Posted on: 10 January 2020
This week’s leadership message comes from Cllr Tim Swift, Leader of Calderdale Council. Cllr Swift is also the Chair of our Partnership Board.
Hello, my name is Tim.
At the start of 2020, I’m pleased to have the chance to say a bit more about the work of the Partnership Board, and our ambitions for the year ahead.
I’m proud that West Yorkshire and Harrogate was the first integrated care system to put a Partnership Board in place. We met three times during 2019, holding each of our meetings in a different council chamber, which emphasises both the importance of local government as part of the Partnership and our commitment to using the Partnership Board to provide visible governance and accountability. Something I very much welcome.
At our December meeting, we had a good debate about the development of the Partnership’s Five Year Plan and ten of our top ambitions, which Rob, CEO Lead for the Partnership, highlighted in his leadership message last week.
As a council leader, I particularly welcome the underpinning ambition to increase the years of healthy life enjoyed by local people, and at the same time to reduce the gaps in life expectancy experienced by the people living in our most deprived communities. At a time when the recent index of multiple deprivation (Dec 2019) has confirmed that the gaps between the most privileged and the most deprived are increasing, addressing these inequalities must remain at the heart of all we do.
This reflects for me the way the Partnership Board has opened up space for honest conversations about the determinants of health, and the important role of all local services in creating the conditions that enable people to thrive and live healthy lives. I have been impressed by the recognition from health colleagues that the contribution from local government is far wider and far more significant than the provision of social care, important though that remains for the effective functioning of the health system.
At the same time, the Partnership Board discussion are also exposing local government colleagues more directly to some of the challenges and choices faced by our health partners at a time when hospitals are running at consistently high occupancy and activity levels.
Looking ahead to 2020, our next Board meeting in public on the 3 March will provide an opportunity to reflect on the new Government’s priorities and potential legislation, and think about what this will mean for our Partnership and for the services we provide locally and collectively. Of course, at this moment in time the position is still emerging; we know in broad terms what the financial settlement for the NHS is likely to be, but local government has no real information about our funding beyond March 2021. And most importantly, we are desperate for further clarity about whether there will be any progress on finding a sustainable long term basis for the funding of social care.
At the same time, we also want to pay more attention on how our Partnership should respond to the challenge of climate change and the green economy. Most of our organisations recognise that we are facing a climate emergency, and that this has implications both for how we operate – how we address the significant contributions that we make to carbon emissions – but also to future demands and pressures on our services and the people and communities we work for and are accountable to. There is a real opportunity here to work together.
This is just a taste of the challenges and opportunities ahead of us. All of our papers and minutes are available on line, and our meetings webcast, and your views and contributions on how the Partnership Board should develop, and on the issues we are discussing, are always welcome. You can find out more on the Partnership Board section of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership website.
Have a good weekend everyone,
Tim
What else has been happening this week?
The Learning Disabilities Health and Care Champions Project
The Learning Disabilities Health and Care Champions Project group met on Monday. We are working with BTM who are supporting this programme of change. Recruitment for people with learning disabilities champions started in December. There is much enthusiasm around the project and the established self-advocates are keen to work with new champions to design an interactive training programme. There will be six meet the trainer sessions through the second half of January and February across the West Yorkshire and Harrogate area. Find out more about the learning disabilities health and care champions in this case study on our website.
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network
Building on the leadership session in October 2019, BAME colleagues came together on Tuesday to look at the next steps to ensuring the support and development of staff into leadership roles across the Partnership.
The session covered the sharing of good practice, whilst exploring opportunities for further collaboration. Having more diverse leadership that better reflects the broad range of talent in West Yorkshire and Harrogate is one of our big ambitions set out in our draft Five Year Plan – which we hope to publish at the end of the month.
A number of recommendations were suggested about how best to move forward. These included making the work to date part of a formal West Yorkshire and Harrogate network approach, which would take an interest in the appointment to senior leadership roles and the recruitment of new roles to represent the communities we serve. Other recommendations involve a role in the implementation of the NHS People Plan at a local level. There was also interest in considering an annual event to celebrate the talent we have here in West Yorkshire and Harrogate, highlighting the valuable contribution made by colleagues and the positive role they play in the work we do. Thank you to everyone who made the event such a great success and for moving forward on this important agenda at pace.
South Korean reporter visit
We had a visit from a reporter called Soomay from a South Korean newspaper named Chosun-ilbo on Tuesday. The newspaper is the most famous daily newspaper in Korea, with 1.77 million readers.
Soomay is writing an article about community care, especially around the support given to older people. It is a follow up from the South Korean Ministry for Health and Social visit in November. She was particularly interested in various policies for NHS and community care, including the Five Year Plan.
Soomay visited Wakefield’s Connecting Care Hub at Bullenshaw and met staff from the council, Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and community sector colleagues.
Having a long term condition or poor health and wellbeing generally means lots of visits to the GP, hospital or other services. Getting help can be frustrating because health, social care and community services are not joined-up and people find themselves telling their story over and over again to different professionals.
Health and social care services across Wakefield are focusing on delivering an integrated care co-ordination model, in partnership with other voluntary and community sector agencies, through the Connecting Care Hubs. There are two Connecting Care Hubs in Wakefield, Waterton Hub which is in the West of the District and Bullenshaw Hub which is in the East, alongside a satellite unit in Castleford.
There was also a catch up with Rob Webster, our Partnership CEO Lead and some of the core team, including Ian Holmes, Adrian North, Lauren Phillips and Anthony Kealy from NHS England and Mel Brown, Director at Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group; where questions on integrated care, GP functions and community care were all discussed. There were also questions on planning, funding and future work.
Stroke update
Providing the best stroke services possible across West Yorkshire and Harrogate continues to be a priority and something we are committed to achieving through the ongoing work taking place. For example, we have recently appointed a Clinical Chair for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Stroke Clinical Network who will continue to facilitate partnership working to save lives and improve health outcomes across the whole of the stroke pathway (prevention, rehabilitation, long-term care and support and end of life care).
A gap analysis (current versus future state) is also being progressed to determine what actions, if any, are required to deliver the post-acute stroke care standards described in the ‘whole pathway’ service specification.
We are continuing to work with the Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) to improve detection of people who have atrial fibrillation and protect them through anti-coagulation drugs. Since April 2018, 1,500 people have been identified across our area as having AF with approximately 2,000 people receiving anticoagulation drugs. As a result of this, it is estimated that 81 people with atrial fibrillation in West Yorkshire and Harrogate did not have a life-changing stroke because they received protective medicines.
What's happening next week?
- The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Shadow System Leadership Executive Group meets on Monday.
- The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Clinical Forum meets on Tuesday.
- The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will meet in public on Tuesday 14 November 2020 from 11am-1pm. To register your interest in attending these meetings or to ask a question before the meeting takes place please email westyorkshire.stp@nhs.net or call 01924 317502. You can also watch this meeting live on our website.. Please note; the meeting will take place in Create2 Room, Horizon Leeds, 3rd Floor, 2 Brewery Wharf Kendall Street Leeds LS10 1JR
- Our System Leadership Executive Group meets on Tuesday. This includes leaders from all our sector partners.
- A meeting led by the Jo Cox Foundation will take place on Wednesday to discuss a Kirklees Loneliness Conference in March.
- West Yorkshire and Harrogate Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme Board meet on Friday.
- Launch of social media recruitment campaign for physiatrists, mental health nurses and learning disability nurses. The campaign is being led by the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Excellence Care Centre.