This week’s leadership message comes from Karen Jackson and Richard Parry

Posted on: 22 January 2021

This week’s leadership message comes from Karen Jackson, CEO Lead for Locala Community Partnerships and Richard Parry, Strategic Director for Adults and Health at Kirklees Council. They are co-chairs of the Partnership’s Supporting Unpaid Carers and Personalised Care Programmes.

Karen Jackson Richard Parry Hello, our names are Richard and Karen.

In a year of the unknown, there have been massive changes in how and where we connect, with an increased focus on digital communication. It has therefore been vital that we consider new ways of working, as a team, across our organisations, communities and beyond to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of communities in response to the global pandemic.

As well as the physical implications of the pandemic, across both the unpaid carers and the personalised care programmes, it’s been essential that we are mindful of the emotional impact of COVID-19 on communities, unpaid carers, and workforce. This is something we’ve tried to address consistently throughout our work in various ways. This ranges from the development of key online resources to support working carers, the national launch of the Working Carers Passport, to the development and delivery of the social prescribing training programme. This has allowed the programme to upskill over 100 volunteers, voluntary, community and social enterprise partners, and link workers in health coaching and digital inclusion skills.

As leaders in health and social care we recognise and champion the importance of working together in partnership. We also recognise the importance of shared decision making and the power of questions such as ‘what matters to you?’ Evidence shows that by involving people in decisions about their health and care we can not only improve the quality of their health and wellbeing care, but ensure they make more informed use of healthcare resources. In support of this, a key priority for the programmes has been language and communications, ensuring we’re able to offer consistent key messages that are clear, accessible to all and reflective of the communities we serve.

To further support this, the Personalised Care Programme has begun the training of over 500 health and care staff in how to have better conversations to support service transformations and resilience including support for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities; an achievement we are extremely proud of.

The programme has produced a snapshot of the work that has taken place in the last year to celebrate the work of the programmes and the contribution of our partners from across the local authority, voluntary, community and social enterprise, and our acute hospitals, community and primary care settings/partners.

2021 will bring its own unique set of challenges, and while we’re able to reflect on a lot of positive work that has taken place or is underway, we recognise that we’re only at the start of a long journey to improving health outcomes and creating a cultural shift towards better health, care, and wellbeing across our six local places (Bradford district and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield).

Despite everything, both programmes have delivered significant positive outcomes that have led to powerful change in the grassroots of West Yorkshire and Harrogate and we are hopeful that we will continue to build on this in 2021.

Thanks for reading and have a safe weekend,
Richard and Karen

BIG thank you

To all our colleagues and communities who have braved the snow, rain and floods to care for people this week across West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

What else has been happening this week?

West Yorkshire Vaccine Programme

In West Yorkshire, as nationally, the NHS is offering vaccinations to those at greatest risk from Covid-19 first, based on the recommendations from the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI). The first groups being offered vaccinations are care home residents and workers, frontline health and social care staff and people aged 80 and over.

In line with the national guidance, the aim is to get people in for their first dose as soon as possible so we can protect as many people as we can, with the second dose delivered within 12 weeks.

Groups of GP practices are working together to offer vaccinations to their patients at local vaccination centres. This is being done in a phased approach and all 48 of our GP groups are now offering vaccinations to patients in the priority cohorts.

Four large-scale vaccination centres will be opening soon and four community pharmacies are now providing vaccinations, with more planning to start over the next few weeks. People in the first priority groups who live in a reasonable distance of an open centre will be invited for a vaccination by the national booking service and can choose to book at the most convenient centre for them, or to wait for an invitation from their GP practice.

Vaccinations are also well underway at hospital vaccination hubs for all frontline health and care workers, including primary care contractors and private providers.

The aim is to have offered appointments to all those in these first groups over the next few weeks and for all those aged 70 and over and people who are extremely clinically vulnerable by the middle of February. People are asked to help the NHS to achieve this by waiting to be contacted and not contacting their GP practice or other NHS services for an appointment until they receive an invitation.

A series of films have been produced by local GPs in community languages, which include Urdu and Pashto, in Polish and Slovak to explain more about the coronavirus vaccine, why it’s important to take up the offer when you are invited, and what it means for people. You can view these community language videos on the Partnership's YouTube channel.

Using British Sign Language, Lead pharmacist for Central North Leeds Primary Care Network, Fazila, explains what to expect from your coronavirus vaccination appointment after being invited by the NHS.

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership gets extra funding for staff mental health support

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership has secured funding from NHS England/NHS Improvement to the end of March 2022 of more than £1million to develop and maintain a Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub for all staff working in health and care services in West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

mental health and wellbeing hub logo Our Hub ambition is to work in collaboration with all our Partnership organisations and services, building on the existing provision in place to ensure that our workforce can access appropriate support for their mental health and wellbeing needs. Staff wellbeing is a top priority across our Partnership with many leaders highlighting concerns about staff stress and burnout through the pandemic. Latest research carried out by King's College London and reported this week asked 709 workers at nine intensive care units in England about how they were coping as the first wave eased. Nearly half reported symptoms of severe anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or problem drinking. One in seven had thoughts of self-harming or being "better off dead".

The hub is already beginning to take shape with clinical and other professionals recruited into the project team. Work is underway to connect with a full range of people in our organisations to ensure all voices are heard and needs identified, including those who may be disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic. NHS Employers Health and wellbeing network is offering free places on its fourth annual health and wellbeing conference being held virtually on Wednesday 10 March 2021. Reflect, regroup, recharge: Enhancing staff experience in the NHS is the theme.

Book your place on the health and wellbeing conference

People tell their stories to support others to come forward

Two new personal stories have been developed by the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance to encourage people who have concerning signs and symptoms to seek medical advice as soon as possible. The importance of individual patients sharing experiences of their own cancer journey is more important than ever when evidence shows that the pandemic has affected the number of people coming forward, despite concerns about their specific symptoms.

Former Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, tells her story here and Karen’s story of being treated for uterine (womb) cancer features here. Both report positive experiences of services and patient safety while being treated during Covid-19. As well as featuring on the Cancer Alliance website, patient stories are also used across social media channels to ensure they reach a wide audience.

If you, or someone you know, would be willing to share their story in this way, contact the Cancer Alliance via tracy.holmes@nhs.net

Spotlight on CATCH, Leeds (CATCH stands for ‘Community Action To Create Hope)

2020 was an extremely challenging year for all of us. At CATCH, they achieved much more than expected. A total of 27, 816 hours of volunteering was recorded and over 21, 000 portions of food distributed to children, families and people shielding/isolating. We hope this demonstrates the impact of volunteering in communities in particular Youth Social Action. Young people when directed, encouraged and empowered can change the world one step at a time. Collaboration with partner organisations and businesses has been key to the success. Colleagues would like to thank everyone who has contributed and supported them. Ultimately, the greatest lesson that COVID-19 can teach humanity is that we are all in this together.

Please watch the following short slideshow highlighting the various 2020 youth projects:

Urgent and emergency care programme

Our integrated urgent and emergency care system includes a wide range of services, which means working with other priority programmes who share common themes. At the meeting on Tuesday we had an opportunity to hear from programme directors from the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Programme and the Ageing Well Programme.

Discussions were had on refining our priorities for 2021/22 which also included support for the establishment of a pre-hospital task and finish group, building on the work which took place in 2020 in relation to NHS111 First. This group will focus its attention on what areas will achieve the best outcomes to ensure people get the right care at the right place and the right time, whilst also aiming to strengthen the urgent care offer outside of hospitals.

As part of its overarching approach the Board are committed to becoming more data driven and business intelligence focused. The development of an NHS111 first dashboard will allow us to actively use data in new and innovative ways. The dashboard was created by NHS North of England Commissioning Support Unit and with permission will be used and further developed to meet local need.

Unpaid carers

girl using smartphone Research from Carers UK shows that one in five secondary school children may be a young carer. Young carers can be as young as seven and are often hidden. This can negatively impact on their experiences and outcomes in education, having a lasting effect on their life and opportunities. To help improve the lives of young carers, the Partnership’s Unpaid Carers Programme have an established young carers steering group with representation from across the health and care system including the voluntary sector.

The group is delivering and coproducing a number of key outcomes to improve the lives of young carers including initiatives that involve working with education establishments and social care to improve better recognition and support for young carers. This work has included extensive engagement with young carer groups and voluntary sector organisations to understand what is important to young carers and has informed a number of key deliverables, including the development of a young carer’s app. The app has been coproduced with young carers and the voluntary sector and is being designed by an established software company led by Dr Knut Schroeder from Expert Self Care who specialise in developing self-care apps.

The first iteration of the app will be launched next month as a soft launch, to gain further insight from young carers. NHS England Commitment to Carers Team have also pledged their support by sharing the feedback from their 25 young carer’s health champions. The final launch of the app will coincide with Young Carers Action Day on 16 March 2021.

Also in progress is a Young Carers Cookbook which will feature a range of recipes by and for young carers to be launched later this year.

Tackling health inequalities for BAME communities and colleagues review – update on action plan progress

The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Partnership’s Action Plan response to the review report was received and approved by the Partnership Board on 1 December 2020. The response details actions related to the four themes of the review; workforce, leadership, population planning and reducing inequalities in mental health outcomes. Progress since the Partnership Board meeting includes:

Recruitment of the BAME Fellows, launch of shadow board, leadership training and alignment to partnership programmes
A core team in place for delivery for the review action plan. Including the identification of a Leadership Fellow to coordinate and lead the system response to the review.
Presentation and discussion with our People Board and the Improving Population Health Programme Board in December 2020 to discuss accountability and actions. This will also be covered on Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Board on 12 January 2021.
Planned session on reducing inequalities related to ethnicity at the Health Inequalities Academy launch on 5 February 2021, in addition to specific sessions for Migrant Health and Gypsy Traveller populations
Priority actions emerging to take forward in January 2021 include: a review of recruitment and selection pathways; a focus on migrant health - identifying population specific actions and working with specific sites for migrant friendly hospitals
Mitigation against inequalities in COVID-19 vaccination uptake through sharing insight, intelligence and local approaches to community engagement
Continuing to engage with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) BAME Review Panel and the West Yorkshire and Harrogate BAME network will also act as critical friends to the partnership providing both support and constructive challenge
The first meeting of the anti-racist campaign project group met earlier this month.

Diabetes network

Our Diabetes Programme is transitioning from a programme to a network. As part of the restructure, the National Treatment and Care Transformation Funding for priority areas is being given to clinical commissioning groups so that they can develop local delivery plans to continue to drive change and improvement. The support team will be in post until September 2021 to support CCGs as well as continuing to support the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.

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