THE first public meeting of the body which will be responsible for Oxfordshire’s healthcare will be held next month.

Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s (OCCG) Shadow Governing Body (SGB) will meet in public on Tuesday, September 4.

The OCCG was formed after the Government announced plans to hand over commissioning power to clinicians. It sees the power handed from local Primary Care Trusts (PCTS) to GPs, nurses and doctors.

GPs from the county’s 83 practices agreed in the autumn of 2010 to form a single countywide ‘clinician-led commissioning organisation’.

But because of national delays to the passing of the Health and Social Care Bill, the group only became fully formed last year.

The meeting will give the public a chance to hold the board members to account and ask pre-submitted questions about items on the meeting agenda during a 15-minute slot.

Questions can be handed to the OCCG business manager at the board meeting or, alternatively, sent in advance by email to rachel.jeacock@oxfordshireccg.nhs.uk The meeting will be from 2pm to 4.30pm at Jubilee House, 5510 John Smith Drive, Oxford Business Park South, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2LH.