This week’s message is sent from Rob Webster, CEO Lead for West Yorkshire and Harrogate (WY&H) Health and Care Partnership. You can find out more about our partnership here.

As we approach winter, we are seeing concerted efforts across health and care to prepare effectively for winter. One of the conversations we have been having with NHS England and NHS Improvement is the role of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate partnership in managing winter pressures. In our partnership, with our focus on local places and systems, most of the work gets done through local A&E delivery boards and local partners. At a West Yorkshire and Harrogate level we need to be careful not to confuse matters or add layers of bureaucracy.

What we do know is that working together at this level can make a massive difference. Our West Yorkshire Acceleration Zone was able to demonstrate improvements in urgent and emergency care through sharing good practice, targeting areas of pressure and focused interventions in some trusts.

This will be the approach we want to take collectively this winter. I will be sitting down with colleagues from NHS England and NHS Improvement to make sure we focus on the right activities at this level, building on work agreed between the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts and Joint Committee of the Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Winter is causing significant headlines, with a number of stories about interventions from the Department of Health and national regulators. This includes the segmentation of all parts of the country into layers of performance on A&E. It is reported that Chief Executive departures are linked to this and there is a return to a more performance driven culture in the NHS.

I think what is clear is that we need to do all we can to achieve national targets and make progress on priorities of mental health, primary care, urgent care and cancer. This is going to be a tough ask and will require the right culture and support. It also requires us to recognise that these are all interlinked. A&E performance is a system issue not solely an issue for hospitals. The impact of poor investment in mental health, primary or social care is felt at the front door of the hospital.

Conversely, we can develop services that are more joined up and help people be seen in the right places.

Our culture is based on engagement, mutual accountability and support, as well as the professional insight into performance and management. The CQC presented findings at the Queen’s Nursing Conference from their inspections, which show cultures of engagement deliver better quality improvement. It is not enough to have a plan or a strategy; staff must be involved in its design and delivery. That culture needs to be set from the top – in organisations and the system. As an STP leadership team, we will ensure that this is the case.

I was delighted that the first clinical leaders’ network for STPs was held in London this week. I will ask Dr Andy Withers, Chair of our Clinical Forum, to talk about this in next week’s message. Clinical leadership and a culture of stewardship are required in the coming years. Money will always be an issue – it is as much an issue for the government in the USA as it is in Zimbabwe. We need to ensure clinical leaders – and public voices – look at how we deliver the best value and highest impact with what we have got.

Have a great week

What else had been happening this week?

Regional Lay Member Assurance Group

The Regional Lay Member Assurance Group met on Tuesday to discuss the WY&H priority themes and the work to date. There was a discussion on financial planning, work with communities, engagement and consultation. Members of the group also received an update on the work of the Cancer Alliance Board. The group will meet again in November. Notes from the meeting will be published on our new website at www.wyhpartnership.co.uk

Stroke task and finish group

The stroke task and finish group met on Tuesday. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the next steps and the work of clinicians and the Clinical Senate. There was also a discussion around 7-day hospital services, workforce planning, best use of technology and preventing ill health.

Working and supporting unpaid carers

The first meeting took place on Thursday with colleagues from our councils, including Leeds, Kirklees and Wakefield. There was a good conversation around commissioning support for unpaid carers, the economics for investing in carers, young people, and sharing good practice across the area. Representatives from the community sector will also be joining future meetings.

Interestingly, the number of carers varies depending on areas and areas within areas, so for example in North Leeds there are more carers, however in the South of Leeds, carers provide more hours of care. One in nine carers work.

This work is being led by Fatima Khan-Shah and you can find out more by watching this short film here.

Public health meeting

This meeting of directors took place on Thursday and was chaired by Corinne Harvey in Ian Cameron’s absence. Preventing ill health is an important focus for all our WY&H priority programmes. Our partnership will continually look for opportunities to prevent people getting ill in the first place. This will lead to more people being in control of their lives and making better informed decisions. You can watch a short film here about the work taking place across the area.

Tobacco control

Work to tackle the significant tobacco control issues facing West Yorkshire and Harrogate took a major step forward last week with a workshop organised through the Cancer Alliance.

Public health specialists, clinicians, information and communications experts came together to discuss the impact of tobacco dependence across the patch; the substantial variations and health inequalities across the six places which make up West Yorkshire and Harrogate, and the role that can be played by everyone across the health and care system in promoting smoking cessation and helping to reduce the above-England average rates of lung cancer and other smoking-related conditions.

The outcomes of the workshop and the actions agreed will be taken forward by the Alliance’s Tobacco Control workstream, which is led by project group lead Scott Crosby, Regional Tobacco Control Policy Manager for Yorkshire and the Humber. A communications and engagement plan will be developed to ensure colleagues across the health and care partnership area are aware of how the project is developing, and how to get involved.

What’s happening next week?

·Our leadership groups meet on Tuesday to talk about financial planning, winter pressures and a collective memorandum of understanding.

·Directors of Finance will meet on Wednesday.

·The Regional Staff Partnership Forum meets on Friday.