Croydon PCT was the primary care trust with responsibility for the London Borough of Croydon, which covered parts of south west London and north Surrey. It was responsible for planning and funding healthcare, and for public health in Croydon. It was accountable to NHS London, the strategic health authority for London. Background and legal status It was originally established in 2003 as Croydon Primary Care and Trust by order of the then UK government’s secretary of state for health, John Hutton, using his powers under the National Health Service Act 1977. The trust took over responsibility for the health services in the area from the previously established Croydon Health Authority. In May 2009 Croydon Primary Care Trust adopted the name of NHS Croydon as it was felt to be more accessible to local communities and better reflected the role of the organisation. From April 2011 Croydon Primary Care Trust was part of NHS South West London, together with the primary care trusts for Wandsworth, Sutton and Merton, Kingston, and Richmond. Although the five trusts remained separate legal entities, they held joint board meetings and shared a management team. All primary care trusts were abolished on 31 March 2013. The commissioning functions were transferred to a clinical commissioning group, and its public health role to the London Borough of Croydon. Key responsibilities NHS Croydon had the stated goal of ‘longer, healthier lives for all the people of Croydon'. It had two key roles: Planning and funding health services through local doctors, dentists, pharmacies, voluntary sector agencies and hospitals Leading on public health body for the area, promoting health living and preventing the spread of disease. Health services in Croydon Croydon is London’s largest borough with a population of 340,000. Croydon has 227 GPs in 64 practices, 156 dentists in 51 practices, 166 pharmacists and 70 optometrists in 28 practices. There is one major NHS trust in Croydon – Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, which provides hospital services at Croydon University Hospital and Purley War Memorial Hospital, and community health services for the borough of Croydon. Health profile of Croydon The Association of Public Health Observatories summarised the health profile of Croydon in 2008 as follows: “Overall, the health of people in Croydon is similar to the England average. The proportion of people diagnosed with diabetes and the rate of new cases of tuberculosis are higher in Croydon than the England average,