Posted on: 1 April 2021
Hello, I’m Rod.
I know Mel Pickup mentioned the national day of reflection in her brilliant blog last week, but I can’t write this blog today without mentioning the fact that it’s over 12 months since Yorkshire Ambulance Service, YAS, managed and transported the UK’s first ever COVID-19 positive patient in York on 29 January, 2020. The impact of this previously unheard of virus has left us at times bewildered, bereaved but mostly uncertain of what the future held.
Yet, remarkably a year later, we appear to be coming through this latest peak with new, improved ways of working and new routines and ways of living. Some changes are more palatable than others I admit and only time will tell whether our new found views on ‘staycations’, commuting, daily exercise and work-life balance stick; but we’ve shown amazing resilience to the new changes placed upon us.
It hasn’t been plain sailing. Despite the monumental efforts of professionals, communities and our governments, the impact of the pandemic has brought tragedy to many families. Our YAS family lost five loved and valued members of staff to COVID-19 which has been truly heart-breaking and many of our colleagues have been affected by loss amongst families and friends. The emotional recovery from what we have endured, and continue to face, cannot be underestimated and will take us time to heal from. With one in four people in the UK experiencing a mental health problem every year, it’s vital we do all we can to support our colleagues and families and the communities we serve.
Sadly, we know that COVID -19 has had a more severe impact on those already considered the most vulnerable groups in society, including ethnic minorities, older adults, children, those with disabilities and people living in social or economic deprivation. The social restrictions brought about by COVID-19 have heightened the vulnerability of certain groups to increased risk of disadvantage, harm, exploitation or abuse. Issues that were at the heart of last week’s Adversity, Trauma and Resilience event hosted by the Partnership and West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit and brilliantly curated by Emm Irving and Carrie Rae. I was fortunate to make it to several of the sessions and hear from passionate speakers about issues that really get to the heart of what our partnership is about.
Having safe and stable home environments, trusting relationships, financial security and support are all important elements of preventing and tackling adversity and helping children and adults to have better lives and I’m proud that these issues are at the heart of our ambition as a partnership, to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. I’ve been humbled by the tremendous efforts of the NHS nationally and regionally to roll out the UK’s COVID vaccine programme, which has seen nearly one million people across West Yorkshire receive their 1st vaccine. With last week’s announcements about the national alert level reducing from 4 to 3, falling numbers of COVID positive patients in hospital and clinically vulnerable staff able to return to work from 1 April, it really feels like we are finally moving forward. I’m loathed to say we will be ‘back to business as usual’ because COVID-19 is already re-shaping some of our ‘new normal’ and allowing us to explore new and exciting ways of working and engaging.
The pace and extent of change to our working practices at YAS has been significant and I couldn’t be prouder of how our staff and volunteers have adapted to the constant and rapidly evolving situation and the enormous courage shown in the continued delivery of care across urgent and emergency settings of care throughout the pandemic. Our A&E and NHS 111 services have seen unprecedented levels of demand at various times during the pandemic due to the public messages to ‘Stay at Home’ and ‘Call 111’. In response, we quickly mobilised video triage and brought new clinical skills into our 999 and 111 contact centres. In December, we implemented the ‘111 First’ project, working closely with our West Yorkshire and Harrogate partners, to ensure patients are guided to the best local services to meet their needs, reducing unnecessary attendance at hospital emergency departments and reducing avoidable infection risk for patients who still require hospital care.
Our Patient Transport Service rapidly adapted our non-emergency vehicles to ensure the safe conveyance of low acuity patients, ensuring the public could still access their outpatient appointments and played a vital role in the rapid discharge of patients from acute trusts, to create capacity in hospitals during periods of peak demand.
The NHS 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance issued last week rightly prioritises working collectively across our systems to address the health inequalities that have been exposed so plainly during the pandemic, to continue to support the health and wellbeing of our staff, to restore access to services and to build on what we’ve learned to transform the way we deliver care.
Addressing large waiting lists for delayed treatments and improving discharge will almost certainly put place even more demands on our Patient Transport Services in the coming year, as will the national ambition to use NHS 111 as the primary access route to urgent care. In the year ahead, we will also be focused on developing future working arrangements in response to the Department of Health and Social Care’s White Paper. Our response to the pandemic over the last year has demonstrated what we can achieve and that working together makes a greater difference to the patients and communities we serve.
With nights becoming lighter, we can also finally begin to spend much needed time with family and friends outdoors. You can feel the renewed sense of hope at home and at work. This was reinforced earlier this week, when we held our much delayed staff recognition STARS awards at YAS, where we celebrated some of the amazing contributions from individuals and teams across the service.
Last week we also ran our first joint session with the Prince’s Trust to support young people in West Yorkshire to gain experience, skills, training and the confidence to get into work. As social restrictions are eased, we will soon restart our #999aspire programme working with the Violence Reduction Unit, West Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to give young adults in schools, colleges and community groups life skills including conflict resolution, mental wellbeing, first aid and careers advice. One of the truly inspirational groups we work with is CATCH in Leeds - CATCH stands for ‘Community Action To Create Hope’ and seeks to build skills and confidence of adults and young people in a diverse and challenged area of the city, to reach their full potential and to make Leeds a safer and healthier place.
So, a time to recover, re-group, to spend more time on the things that make a positive difference in our home and working lives and look ahead at the positive opportunities.
‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has’ - Margaret Mead
Have a great bank holiday weekend. Make sure you take some to time to enjoy it.
Rod and all of us at YAS.
What else has been happening this week?
A poem from Leeds
As we start to emerge from the current lockdown, and think back over the challenges of the past year we are proud to share this powerful reflection on the challenges experienced by Leeds people and communities during the Covid-19 pandemic, and also the incredible response of the third sector during this period. Working with Leeds based poet Michelle Scally Clarke, Forum Central working with third sector partners have produced a poem and film drawing on information collected through the Communities of Interest Network.
Kirklees CCGs merged on 1 April
Two clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Kirklees merged today (Thursday 1 April) to become a new statutory body. NHS Greater Huddersfield and NHS North Kirklees CCGs have been working closely together for a number of years, supported by a single management team and chief officer. Creating a single voice for the NHS in Kirklees is the next step in their journey.
Check in campaign (suicide prevention campaign)
You can read the latest update on the suicide prevention campaign here.
Summary:
- 197 organisations signed up
- 405 individuals signed up
- 412 clicks though to https://
www. zerosuicidealliance.com/ training
#AutismAllies
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership aims to achieve a 10% reduction in the gap in life expectancy between people with mental ill-health, learning disabilities and autism, and the general population by 2024. Autism Awareness Week (29 March – 4 April) has provided the Partnership with an opportunity to showcase the work we are doing to help reduce inequalities for autistic people.
Our #AutismAllies project has published a report bringing together case studies of the very best of the work that is going on across West Yorkshire and Harrogate to support autistic people, sharing good practice across the whole system, prepared for the Partnership by the Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network.
Complex rehabilitation
People with the most complex mental health needs experience significant variation in complex rehabilitation inpatient models, lengths of stay and recovery outcomes. Nationally, those with a serious mental illness experience high levels of physical ill health and higher rates of premature mortality. Many people in complex rehabilitation placements are ‘dislocated’ from their home areas and local services, and as a consequence have longer restrictive inpatient lengths of stay.
We have carried out an engagement exercise with people who are admitted to these services and carers with the aim of better understanding the cohort of people currently cared for in long-term restrictive rehabilitation inpatient settings and how they might be better supported closer to home and, where possible, in the community.
The reports from the engagment are now available to read and share.
Future Design and Transition Group
The Future Design and Transition Group met on Wednesday. The aim of this group is to provide oversight of the work that our Partnership is undertaking in preparation for the potential move to statutory arrangements from April 2022 as part of the integrated care system (ICS) proposals (Government White Paper). Discussions include structure and function, and the governance arrangements that will underpin our collective work. This will also include the establishment of the statutory NHS ICS body and Health and Care Partnership; supporting all colleagues, whilst keeping in view clinical leadership and public involvement.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
For the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion module of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) Empower Programme, Neeraj Bhasin, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, CHFT Clinical Lead and Regional Clinical Director for Vascular Services across West Yorkshire (Twitter: @8NBX), tells us his story, his journey, titled – 'Neither here, nor there, but all good’
Home testing app to screen for chronic kidney disease for people with diabetes
A smartphone app and home test kit enabling people to test themselves for chronic kidney disease (CKD) using their mobile phone camera is being rolled out across all GP surgeries in West Yorkshire and Harrogate thanks to an exciting collaboration with Healthy.io. This innovative remote kidney health testing service is:
- Available for free to ALL GP practices across West Yorkshire and Harrogate
- Quick and easy to implement
- Proven to increase adherence to urinary ACR tests
- Releasing practice capacity by outsourcing workload to Healthy.io
Practices can register their interest now. It is estimated that 78,964 people living with diabetes in West Yorkshire and Harrogate do not do their annual urine CKD test. We have joined the programme following a successful initial roll out within Leeds CCG. The expansion across West Yorkshire and Harrogate signifies a step towards enabling more at-risk patients to complete this critical clinical test safely and easily from home and reduce the burden on the primary care workforce. The chronic kidney disease early detection service is delivered in partnership with Healthy.io, the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), NHSx and the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR). Any GP practice who would like to access the technology for free is able to join the programme. To register your interest please enter your details on this one-minute form.
West Yorkshire’s Children and Young People’s Mental Health Inpatient Service transferred to new organisation on 1 April 2021
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) will take over the running of the eight bed inpatient unit at Little Woodhouse Hall in Leeds from Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (LCH) following an agreement between the Trust’s Boards announced in September 2020. LCH will continue to provide children’s community health services, including community-based children’s and young people’s mental health services (also known as CAMHS) for Leeds.
From 1 April, LYPFT will take over the leadership, management and day to day running of the inpatient service which caters for young people aged 12 – 18 years old with a variety of significant mental health issues, including depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Find out more about the services at Little Woodhouse Hall, including how to refer, on the LYPFT website.
This comes ahead of the opening of a new £20million 22-bed unit, to be known as Red Kite View, later this year. Find out more and take a virtual tour of Red Kite View on the LYPFT website.
Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub – launch 6 April
The past year has been challenging, especially for health, social care and emergency services workers, hospice colleagues, voluntary community social enterprise colleagues and volunteers in community services. The impact of COVID-19, global and personal uncertainty, changes to routine and environment and prolonged periods of stress is putting extraordinary strain on people’s ability to cope, but it’s not always easy to seek or find the right support.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership has launched a new, free, confidential staff mental health and wellbeing hub that’s open to anyone who works in our partner organisations – including care workers and voluntary and community services. The hub builds on existing wellbeing support offers that are already available at work and provides advice, support and resources covering a range of issues from emotional wellbeing to bereavement. The hub also offers intensive, individual help to people who need it most and need it now for burnout, stress and trauma.
The Fellowship – applications now open for the High Potential level 2 programme
This programme is aimed at colleagues from ethnic minorities aspiring to move into leadership. On 17 March 2021, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership were named winners at the HSJ awards for system leadership initiative of the year and recognised for an ambition to increase our leadership diversity. We are very proud of this initiative and the opportunities it gives people from ethnic minorities working across the partnership. Applications are now open for High Potential level 2 the second of our three leadership programmes supporting different carer stages.
The High Potential level 2 development programme is aimed at those looking to move into a system senior leader role that requires accredited qualification with leadership experience. The programme will enable candidates to connect across service areas/functions to deliver successful outcomes for patients, sectors, communities or staff. You can find out more about this two-year accredited development programme by visiting the website.
Our award winning development programme is now open for applications until the 30 April and the course will commence on 7 June 2021. An application form is available to download on the website and there will be a number of virtual sessions to support candidates with the application process. This is open to all partners and their employees from across the Partnership with line manager approval. To be eligible to apply you must have a minimum of 3 years’ experience of working in a senior role. If you already have an accredited level 7 leadership and management qualification you will not be eligible to apply. For more information contact samantha.
Bridging the gap to cancer care and support for ethnic minorities – an exciting opportunity to shape access communities: Have your say on how primary care and VCSEs can better connect to tackle cancer inequalities in West Yorkshire and Harrogate
Bookings are now open for a workshop hosted by the Cancer Alliance next month (April) to look at how stronger connections between primary care teams and voluntary/community groups/social enterprises (VCSEs) can improve access to services and health and wellbeing support for people from ethnic minority communities who have been/are affected by cancer.
The Partnership's response to the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 for different ethnic minority communities has highlighted disparities in access to healthcare and cancer services. Some population groups experience worse outcomes throughout the whole cancer pathway: symptom awareness and health-seeking behaviour is lower, cancer is more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, and these cancer patients are less likely to access support services.
The workshop will explore these issues from the perspective of primary care and VCSEs, and it provides an opportunity to get involved, share good practice and look at how improvements can be made to improve the patient experience, reduce inequalities and promote better outcomes. The workshop will take place on 21st April 2021, between 10am and 12 noon. To register and book onto the event (places are limited), visit Eventbrite For more information, or to discuss the event in more detail, please contact wakccg.