Hello my name is Rob and welcome to the partnership message for this week.

People in the media are starting to gear up for the 70th birthday of the NHS next year, which leads to plenty of opportunities to celebrate the past and worry about the future. Our role in the West Yorkshire and Harrogate partnership is to deliver the best outcomes for local people and the NHS five year forward view, and a sustainable future for the NHS is essential to both.

If we are to be successful, then we need to have a sense of hope based on our ambitious plans and a sense of realism from our experiences as health and care leaders every day. This balance of hope and realism is exemplified by two developments this week.

Firstly, the Government has published its life sciences strategy. The NHS is a world leader in research and innovation, punching far above its weight in both. Did you know 99% of NHS Trusts and almost half of all GP practices recruit people into research? And that the UK has been the biggest benefactor of EU research monies in recent years? Clearly, we have a substantial interest in the life sciences strategy and we also need a good Brexit settlement on research. Niall Dickson has been making the case for both, with helpful lobbying through the NHS Confederation and the NHS Brexit Alliance asks of Parliament.

We have some fantastic resources within West Yorkshire and Harrogate in this area. Whether the innovative partnerships of the Leeds Academic Health Partnership or the dynamism of the mHabitat programme, we are well placed to be ambitious for the future of our services. This makes sense for the economic development of the region and for service innovation. Beyond the headlines of hospital reconfigurations and efficiencies, this is the work that the partnership is steadily doing. You can see examples of how we are using digital technology across WY&H in this short film clip by Dr Jason Broch and [wearemhabitat.com/team]Dr Victoria Betton. This kind of work allied to the infrastructure we have around life sciences could make the region a global player in health technology.

Secondly, The Nuffield Trust has published an excellent analysis of the state of provider finances in the NHS. This very clear and objective assessment shows the huge progress providers have made in delivering improved finances and managing costs. It also gives a stark warning of the likely pressures in the sector and across the NHS. This very real set of problems is being addressed through our financial and service strategy. It reinforces, for example, that sustainability funds that are held in increased control totals improve cash positions but not spending power. As a leadership group we need to move quickly to a state of earned autonomy so that issues like this can be addressed and sustainability and transformation funding held locally. This is something we will discuss as a leadership group as we see our move to becoming an “Accountable Care System”.

It’s clear that to have a chance of succeeding we need local leadership freeing up to be supported by national frameworks, with control over funding and decision making. We may then have the capacity and space to realise our ambitions and manage our own risks. When we do this, for example through the West Yorkshire Health Acceleration Zone, we get big improvements. We saw an 8% improvement in A&E performance through this collaboration and good progress on reducing delayed transfers of care. This short film by Dr Adam Sheppard, Chair of the Urgent and Emergency Care Programme Board sets out the direction of travel.

Have a great weekend

Rob

What’s been happening this week?

iWantGreatCare today

Salma Yasmeen (South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) and Ian Holmes met with Neil Bacon from iWantGreatCare today – a company that specialises in providing real time patient experience information. They’ve been working with the cancer pilots to develop an approach. Patient experience is a real focus of our cancer alliance – and we’re keen to discuss his experiences and explore whether anything might be replicable for WY&H.

Public Health Coordination Group

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Public Health Coordination Group met on Tuesday. Chaired by Ian Cameron, Director of Public Health at Leeds City Council, the group discussed the STP aspiration to reduce smoking prevalence to 13% by 2021. Led by Scott Crosby (Regional Tobacco Control Policy Manager, Yorkshire and the Humber), a workshop is being held on 20 September in Leeds, to discuss how we work together to reach this ambition and in particular how we can achieve this for high smoking groups of people.

Finances

Directors of Finance from our partnership met on Friday to discuss the development of our new financial plan, which will be completed in the next few months. The meeting also included preparing for the next round of capital funding programmes.

National Audit Office (NAO) visit

This week we have been planning for the NAO visit on the 13 September. The aim of the visit is to discuss financial sustainability. The NAO are visiting a number of STP areas. They will be talking to a number of our partnership leaders including Rob Webster, Julian Hartley, Jo Webster, Professor Sean Duffy, Dr Sara Munro and Jonathan Webb, our STP finance director (make links).

What’s happening next week?

The STP Leadership Team, West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT) and the Clinical Forum will meet on Tuesday.

The Joint Committee for the 11 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in West Yorkshire and Harrogate (WY&H) will meet for the second time in public on the 5 September. Committee meetings held in public will be filmed live and offer the public an opportunity to ask questions about items on the agenda. Written questions should be submitted 48 hours before the meeting. There is also an opportunity to ask questions at the start of the meeting for a short time about agenda items. The agenda for 5 September and information from the previous meeting held in public in July are published at www.wyh-jointcommiteeccgs.co.uk

What’s coming up?

We are in the process of setting up a meeting in September to discuss the Canterbury health and care model. The meeting will focus on clinical support and organisational development.

WY&H STP at the meeting on 26th September 2017 are:

Dr Andy Withers, Clinical Chair, Bradford District CCG and Joanne Crewe, Director of Quality and Governance Executive Nurse, Harrogate and Rural District CCG will attend the National Clinical Leads meeting on the 26 September on behalf of WY&H.

For information

Head of Regional Health Partnerships – closing date 15 September. To further strengthen the collaboration between the NHS and local authorities, we are recruiting to a Head of Regional Health Partnerships. The post will be hosted by Health Partnerships in Leeds City Council and work closely with Tom Riordan as lead CEO for health in local government and Rob as WY&H STP CEO Lead. The job is advertised here on NHS Jobs, Leeds City Council and also on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority website. If you have any questions regarding the role, please contact:

-Tony Cooke, Chief Officer Health Partnerships on 07908103267

Or

-Ian Holmes, WY&H STP Director on 07983583158

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust have received a CQC rating of good overall and outstanding for adult services for caring. You can read the report here

Harrogate and Rural District Clinical Commissioning Group are looking for a Communication and Engagement Manager on a fixed term contract for 12 months or secondment. It’s a grade 7 and should be on NHS Jobs by the end of today.

Yorkshire & Humber Medicines Optimisation Forum: Focus on Diabetes. Thursday 5 October 2017, 9am to 4.30pm. Village Hotel Leeds South, Capitol Boulevard West, Tingley, Leeds, LS27 0TS. Please contact KAEV@novonordisk.com for more information.

Dementia 2020, The Next Phase, 17th of April 2018 - RSM, London. Register to Attend