NHS West Essex holds the NHS budget for the 270,000 people who live in Epping Forest, Harlow and Uttlesford. The area we cover stretches from Buckhurst Hill in the south of Essex to Steeplebumpsted in the north. We are responsible for improving primary care and the health of the local population.
We provide some health services such as district nursing, school nursing and health visitors. We also provide specialist services such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and Macmillan nursing.
Our three main functions are to:
- work with our local population to improve their health and well being
- purchase a comprehensive and equitable range of high quality, responsive and efficient services within the resources we have available
- provide high quality responsive and efficient services where this gives best value.
We work closely with community health services and value the contribution our network of community hospitals, health centres, GP practices, dentists, optometrists and pharmacists make to giving the public access to a wide range of services without having to travel to hospital.
West Essex has a mix of urban and rural areas and although some areas are affluent, there are some areas where income is low and this is reflected in people’s health and well being. There is also an increasingly ageing population where life expectancy is above the national average.
