Posted on: 6 September 2019
The second meeting of the WY&H Health and Care Partnership Board took place in Wakefield on Tuesday – you can read the papers and watch the recording of the meeting here or at the end of this blog. The Partnership Board further strengthens joint working arrangements between organisations involved, including the NHS, councils, care providers, Healthwatch, community and voluntary groups. The Partnership Board has four Co-opted members (Jackie Dolman, Andy Clow, Emma Stafford and Stephen Featherstone). They act as ‘critical friends’ and provide independent, strategic challenge to the Partnership’s work. In particular, they champion the public, service user, patient and carer perspective, providing assurance that people’s needs are at the centre of the Board’s decisions. Here are the reflections from Andy, Emma and Stephen from our second meeting of the Partnership Board. You will be hearing from Jackie in the next few weeks.
Andy Clow
In June, our first meeting felt like the first day at school; everyone finding their coat peg and getting to know the person sitting next to them. Today was much more about getting down to the business at hand. I was really pleased to see that members of the public had not only taken the time to attend, but had come with some well-presented case studies, reflections and a few thorny questions. Chatting before the meeting with some of the people who contributed from the gallery, I was impressed by the level of knowledge and commitment they bring to lobbying for their respective issues. It’s fair to say that all of the members of the public I spoke to came to the meeting with a substantial degree of scepticism about the Partnership and its motives; more than one person told me they were determined to fight any privatisation of the NHS and they were suspicious that the Partnership didn’t share their perspective. I’m no Pollyanna, but everyone I’ve spoken to on the Partnership so far seems genuinely committed to keeping our health and care system not only free at the point of use, but the best it can be with the resources we have available. That said, it’s right that interested and passionate public observers should be holding us to account and reminding us what matters.
It was great to hear Tom and Donna talking about what they do for BTM and the importance of having Learning Disability Champions like them to tell us when services fall below what they would expect and to celebrate colleagues who are getting it right. We should all be ashamed when we hear about poorly thought-through access in GP surgeries and clinicians who don’t take the time to explain a diagnosis. These aren’t learning disability issues, they’re proper service issues and we should all be calling them out. I don’t believe that ‘reasonable adjustment’ is enough; a service is either fit for purpose for all its users, or it’s failing the people who rely on it.
If I’d doubted it before, today’s meeting really brought home to me the scale of the challenge ahead if we’re going to make good on our promise to integrate our health and care systems. Just scanning a draft 5 year plan with the scope (and length) of ‘War and Peace’, tells you all you need to know about the levels of complexity and the differences we will need to overcome in the months and years ahead. While I’m sure that all the service leaders in the Partnership will need reams of detail to align their organisations, I’m not sure that the public needs to share it. I’m convinced that most people who would take the time to read our strategy want us to make the key issues clear and outline our priority aims and ambitions to tackle them. For the public, our story needs to be read and digested in five minutes, with a plot that can be shared at the bus stop. It will be interesting to see how our strategy has been edited and shaped by the time we meet again in December.
Emma Stafford
As a member of the public, becoming involved with West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Board has been both an exciting and daunting experience in equal measure. Sitting in a council chamber with around 70 people, all of whom are extremely knowledgeable in their field, is quite something. September’s meeting, only the second time we have met, gave me plenty of reminders about the importance of public voice in such arenas (just in case I’d been in any doubt). With thought provoking questions from the public and powerful presentations from individuals involved with the new learning disability health champions project supported by BTM.
In the following days since the meeting, I have found myself reflecting on my own journey and why I took on the role. It makes sense to first explain to you the reason for my motivation. I have epilepsy, which first presented when I was age 13 and invariably this has meant a need to access health services; whether that be my GP, neurologist, epilepsy nurse, pharmacist, or urgent and inpatient care via the hospital. Not all my experiences in accessing services have been positive, although I would like to point out I have had some excellent care too. These experiences made me wonder if there was anything I could do, as a patient, to become more involved in the decisions made around my health care.
And with those thoughts, I eventually found myself here! Reading 100 page documents outlining a draft five year plan and wondering what does this really mean to me, my Mum, or the neighbour down the street? The honest answer is probably not a lot… At least right now. But does it need to? The Partnership Board ambition to share best practice, collaborate, and work together to create better health outcomes for the people it serves is a huge step forward. And my role? To ensure that patients and the public are considered, consulted and included at every step along the way.
Stephen Featherstone
Questions from members of the public provided a great start to the second meeting of the Partnership Board. We heard about the importance of maintaining a personalised service in the face of changes to budgets and advances in technology, including automated approaches to suicide prevention. There was a detailed description of how patients can suffer if different services and professionals use different information systems, and do not have access to a complete record of the patient’s history. It was noted that the Draft Five Strategy does not seem to identify a cost and budget for integrated communication systems. This includes communication between WYH services and services outside the area, as well internal communications.
“The Partnership Board belongs to its citizens” was seen as important principle, that would protect some of the original values of the NHS. A number of concerns were highlighted including the apparent neglect of the rate of dental caries in children. This sits uneasily with the proposed strong emphasis on preventative work. A complete record of the questions and answers will be published on our Partnership website very soon.
There was a powerful and informative presentation from BTM, who work to create and promote information that is accessible to as many people as possible. They help organisations to ensure their information is accessible and support individuals and communities who have difficulty either accessing or understanding information. The enthusiastic and knowledgeable presenters shared their experiences of difficulties in a variety of situations and how these had helped them to help others in similar situations. They show organisations the issues they need to focus on, and ways of working to ensure communications and services are accessible and relevant to everyone. They will be working with the Partnership to make improvements.
Throughout the meeting people emphasised that the work of the Partnership includes recognising how people’s health is influenced by factors such as good neighbourhoods, childcare, employment opportunities, access to high quality, affordable housing and leisure and recreation opportunities.
People argued that our Five Year Strategy needs to reflect these wider influences and therefore needs to include the work and ambitions of all the partners who contribute, not just the NHS. The role and work of local authorities and its links to the NHS needs to have a higher profile in the strategy. The contribution the partners can make to the development of the labour market and wider local economy was also emphasised. The importance of the contribution volunteers make to the Partnership’s workforce was highlighted along with the fact that they often become employees.
It was stressed that members of the public, patients and carers might find the draft strategy overly lengthy and complex. It is important that readers can quickly find concise information about key topics, and clearly see priorities, issues and the proposals to address them.
The value of the communication and engagement work carried out by the Partnership and local Healthwatch organisations was recognised. There was a feeling that the draft strategy needs to make the most of this by highlighting how the views of the public, patients and carers have shaped proposals.
What else has been happening this week?
Meeting of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Board. Our Partnership Board met for the second in public on Tuesday at Wakefield County Hall. The Board is an important group for the Partnership, bringing elected members, non-executives and public lay members into the decision making process. Over 70 representatives make up the Board. You can view the list of members here. You can view the Board’s papers, or watch a film recording of the meeting here. The next meeting in public will be on Tuesday 3 December 2019.
WY&H Clinical Forum (Chaired by Dr Andy Withers) met on Tuesday. The group received an update from Cindy Fedell and other member of the WY&H Digital Team on the development of the WY&H Digital Strategic Plan. There was also a discussion on the NHS England / NHS Improvement Medicines Value Programmes which aims to increase value from the prescribing budget and reduce unwarranted variation in prescribing practice. Members also discussed the early findings from the ‘Do once and share’ approach to quality and equality impact assessment following its implementation 6 months ago and the development of the WY&H Five Year Strategy.
‘Diversity and innovation – a celebration of BAME innovators and our pledges to do more’ - a new report sharing the stories of innovators from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and sets out pledges by the AHSN Network to further support the diversity and innovation agenda was launched by Richard Stubbs, CEO at the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network on Wednesday at the NHS Expo.
Looking out for our neighbours featured at NHS Expo - Our partnership was proud to be asked to present the ‘Looking out for our neighbours’ campaign at NHS Expo on Wednesday. Colleagues from the project team co-presented the session with Magpie, the agency who helped bring the campaign to life. With over 30 people from across the country attending our pop up university session we hope we’ll be creating social movements in other parts of the country. At the end of the session every attendee was given a welcome card encouraging them to say ‘Hello my name is…’ to someone in their community. Looking out for our neighbours will be rolling out again over winter, in the meantime keep the #OurNeighbours message going on social media and do share the website with others www.ourneighbours.org.uk
NHS Assembly Meeting - Rob Webster, Fatima Khan Shah, and Richard Stubbs attended the third meeting of the NHS Assembly on Thursday. The NHS Assembly was created earlier this year to advise the Boards of NHS England and NHS Improvement on delivery of the improvements in health and care outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan. It is co-chaired by leading GP Dr Claire Gerada, and former head of the King’s Fund think tank, Professor Sir Chris Ham.