Hello my name is Ian…
Just back from two weeks holiday and wanted to take the opportunity to update blog readers on an important conversation we had with MPs from across our area at the end of June.
A number of leaders from our Partnership attended a MP briefing on Tuesday 20 June – and on what turned out to be an exceptionally busy parliamentary day as the Commons Consideration of the Lords Amendments on the EU Withdrawal Bill took place the same afternoon.
It was a good opportunity to discuss the progress we are making with West Yorkshire and Harrogate MPs - including our move to join the integrated care system development programme in May.
A number of themes emerged from the briefing including the importance of the NHS, local government and community organisation partnerships.
In West Yorkshire and Harrogate we benefit from having strong local authority partners around the decision-making table who have a very active part - this is helping to shape our health and care system. We spoke about the need to continue to build on these partnerships to:
- bring democratic accountability – ensuring that every penny in every pound is being directed into effective support and services that people need
- bring more integrated approaches to social care, ensuring that people don’t get caught in the gap between ‘health’ and ‘social care’ at a time when they are most vulnerable
- challenge us to direct our resources to dealing with the factors that promote good physical and mental health for everyone: strong communities, access to green space, decent housing or inclusive growth that expands employment and opportunity
- drive the regional health economy and ensure that the benefits of innovation are shared across all our communities
- focus on root causes of inequality and poor health, including poverty, housing, education, employment, loneliness, and the environment.
There was widespread support for tackling these issues, and the institutional and financial structures that reinforce them. We need to ensure that additional financial backing and regulatory headroom provided through becoming an integrated care system is focused on these issues. We also spoke about the need to establish effective mechanisms for public and democratic accountability in our work at a local and West Yorkshire and Harrogate level. With this firmly in mind we are looking to develop a ‘Partnership Board’ arrangement across the area to address this. I’ll keep you posted when we know more.
There was also a strong consensus that our communications effort should focus on the specific, practical things that we are doing to importantly improve outcomes and experiences locally for people. We will be doing some work over the coming weeks to highlight the positive difference our Partnership is making, for example around mental health, maternity and cancer care. Ensuring our council leaders and MPs are involved in telling the story is very important to us all.
Workforce is an important factor for many of our ambitions, and we discussed working at a West Yorkshire and Harrogate level to create the right environment to attract and develop staff, so that we remain ‘A healthy place to live and a great place to work’.
It’s essential that any transformation funding reflects the need for not only health care recruitment but also social workers as well as staff working in communities to prevent ill health through early help and supportive interventions. You can read our workforce plan here. This describes the challenges we face and the work we are doing together to address them.
We also highlighted the huge contribution community organisations and volunteers make and that our focus will remain on providing them with the right help and support to continue to do this amazing work. The vital role of the 260,000 unpaid carers who care for family and friends day in day out across our area was also discussed as was the announcement that an extra £20bn a year will be available for the NHS in England. However, the absence of a similar settlement for social care funding has been noted across West Yorkshire and Harrogate and we will continue to focus on this over the coming months.
Have a good weekend
Ian
What else has been happening this week?
Urgent and Emergency Care Programme
The Urgent and Emergency Programme Board met on Monday. It is chaired by Dr Adam Sheppard. The Board includes colleagues from across our Partnership including the ambulance services, hospitals, primary care and NHS England/NHS Improvement – and is supported by the senior responsible officer for the Programme, Nigel Gary and Keith Wilson, the Programme Director. The Board signed off the next steps document for the work which involves three priority areas: 1) delivering the urgent care specification; 2) working with our six local places (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) around system improvement in A&E departments and 3) interoperability i.e. making sure our health care systems are in sync and talk to each other.
Communications and engagement network
Over 20 communication and engagement colleagues working across the partnership met on Tuesday in Bradford.
Jody O’Brien, Product and Engagement Lead for NHS RightCare gave an overview of NHS RightCare and the products such as pathways and data packs available for systems to use. The packs allow local health and care organisations to identify potential improvements in spend and outcomes for patients across various healthcare areas including MSK, CVD and respiratory etc. by comparing similar populations with better outcomes. NHS RightCare have delivery partners who work with systems to put the RightCare methodology into practice. Please visit the website here for more information and any questions please email jody.
This was followed by a presentation from Kate Bell, Equality Lead for Calderdale, Greater Huddersfield, North Kirklees and Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Groups. Kate presented on the importance of why equality should be embedded in all our work, the legal duties of equality and equality impact assessments.
Albeit STPs are not subject to the public sector equality/health inequalities duties in their own right they can be challenged when implementing decisions. It is therefore extremely important that we consider the different needs of those we serve when planning communications, engagement and consultation and we consider different equality groups – access, experience and outcomes across all groups of people. So that everyone has the opportunity to get involved and importantly receive the right care and support.
We also welcomed Ruth Coulthard, Marketing and Communications Manager for Leeds Academic Health Partnership. Ruth gave an overview of the work taking place in Leeds and beyond. The Partnership aims to improve the health and well-being of people by engaging academic capabilities in education and research with the health and care system to speed up the adoption of innovation. The Partnership also aims to attract inward investment, drive inclusive economic growth and reduce health inequalities. Put simply Leeds Academic Health Partnership drives innovation through collaboration. Part of the marketing and communications work is to help raise the national and international profile and reputation of Leeds, the Partnership’s member organisations and the wider region it serves.
Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting (especially our presenters) – we only truly improve the way we communicate with people by sharing learning, avoiding duplication and unnecessary costs. Big thank you also to Sue Jones at Bradford City CCG for hosting the network.
Maternity
Colleagues working across maternity care came together on Wednesday to hear from Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent (Head of Maternity Children and Young People and National Maternity Safety Champion) and Claire Matthews, Deputy Head of Maternity from NHS England about supporting maternity providers to meet the ambitions of the Better Birth work.
The session focused on plans for implementing continuity of care, challenges and the NHS planning guidance 2019 and beyond.
Better Births says that every woman should have a midwife who is part of a small team of four to six midwives, based in the community who knows the family and can provide continuity through pregnancy, birth and postnatally. There were some useful conversations taking place.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity System film was shared this week with colleagues working in maternity. The film gives information on what an LMS is and how it will work to provide personalised and safer care to women and their families across the region. You can view the film here
What’s happening next week?
- An event will take place on Tuesday around West Yorkshire and Harrogate organisational development.
- Our Partnership’s Directors of Finance meet on Wednesday.
- The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Public Health Co- ordination Group meet on Thursday.