A NEW community forum which will bring together community and NHS leaders across Carlisle and Eden will hold its first meeting this week.

The Carlisle and Eden Community Forum (CECF) has been set up by Healthwatch Cumbria to mirror a regular forum held in west Cumbria.

It will be chaired by the Archdeacon of West Cumberland, the Venerable Richard Pratt, and will be a place for locals, representatives of local groups and health and care system leaders to discuss together how the health and care system is developing.

The first meeting of the forum will take place on Friday, September 20, between 10am-noon at The Stoneybeck Inn at Penrith.

The Venerable Richard Pratt said: “The West Cumbria Community Forum has been meeting regularly since late 2014 and has proved to be valuable to both community groups, who can find out first hand about developments in the NHS, but also to our healthcare leaders who have open and informative discussions about services and how they are evolving.

“Over this time we have developed relationships which have enabled conversations which are important for all involved and for some time we have wanted to develop something similar for the other side of the county.”

Items on the agenda for the first CECF include the development of North Cumbria Health and Care System and how our services are working together more closely than ever, as well as the area’s response to the NHS Long Term Plan.