A public meeting to explain changes in health care is being held in Darlington.

The National Health Service is undergoing major upheaval as part of a ten-year plan to allow more decisions to be taken at a local level.

The keystone of change is the Local Delivery Plan which outlines how funding will be spent on services. Local people, whether they are patients, public or medical staff, are being given the chance to be increasingly involved in how future services will look.

Darlington Primary Care Trust, which manages 75 per cent of health care budgets in the borough, has arranged the meeting to explain the new era.

It will be held on Thursday, December 19, at 6pm in the restaurant/committee room at Darlington's Dolphin Centre.

The local delivery plan sets out the way front line staff and local people can be involved in decision making.

It also sets out a framework for looking after society's most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the young, disabled people and the less well off, who at the moment are unable to make the most of the health service.

The new system allows the public to be involved at various levels - giving feedback about services, joining patient groups or becoming non-executive members of the PCT board.