Our Partnership is made up of organisations working closely together to plan services and address the challenges facing health and care services across the area.
In this section you will find links to useful information and publications about our partnership.
We are committed to meaningful conversations with people, on the right issues at the right time. We believe this is an important part of the way we work.
Engagement gives people an opportunity to have their say on services. By gathering people's views, it helps us understand what matters to people.
In this section you will find all Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to our Partnership. You can also ask a question of your own.
The Health and Social Care Secretary, with the support of NHS England and health and care system leaders, set out new proposals to build on the successful response to the pandemic on 11 February 2021. The proposals will bring health and care services closer together to build back better by improving care and tackling health inequalities.
The measures set out in a government White Paper, will modernise the legal framework to make the health and care system fit for the future and put in place targeted improvements for the delivery of public health and social care. It will support local health and care systems to deliver higher quality care to their communities, in a way that is less legally bureaucratic, more accountable and more joined up, by bringing together the NHS, local government and partners together to tackle the needs of their communities as a whole.
The proposals build on the NHS’ recommendations for legislative change in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Our Partnership is also known as an integrated care system. Our collective responses to the consultation explained what is important to us, including the role of our local places (Bradford district and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) as the key focus of planning and working together to improve people’s health and wellbeing and tackle health inequalities we know exist (link to the population health web page).
The White Paper now provides further information on the preferred legislative option for integrated care systems and how these arrangements will work. These proposals are subject to parliamentary approval over the coming months.
More widely, the proposals set out in the White Paper reflect much of what is already in place in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. Including the key role of health and well-being boards and the way care providers work together, for example the West Yorkshire Association of Care Trusts (hospitals working together) and our mental health, learning disabilities and autism care providers - Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds and Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and others. The way we work together as part of the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups. Commissioning futures and the Partnership Board are also good examples.
The continuation of this work will ensure that we maintain the right focus for the next steps.
Under the proposals, there will be a single Integrated Care System for West Yorkshire which will be a statutory body. It’s also important to note that there will be no statutory role in place until 2022. During this time we will be working together to get ready for any changes, whilst making sure that all colleagues are supported and valued for the skills and expertise they bring to any new way of working. The draft paper also includes a commitment to seek stability of employment for current staff.
You can find out more about the way we work in the following publications:
This is an easy read summary of the Integration and Innovation White Paper. You can find the full version at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/blueprint-launched-for-nhs-and-social-care-reform-following-pandemic
A white paper is a document made by the government. It sets out plans for things that they want to become laws.
The Integration and Innovation White Paper is about health and care services working closer together to make health and care better for everyone.
It is about making sure that everyone has the same chance of good health.
It sets out how Integrated Care Systems will work in the future. The plan is for the changes to start in April 2022.
Integrated Care Systems (ICS) are the organisations that work together to provide health and social care in an area.
They are made up of the NHS, local councils, care providers, voluntary and community organisations and others.
They plan services so that everyone can have the best care possible in a way that is right for them.
The NHS Long Term Plan said that every area would have an Integrated Care System by April 2021.
Our ICS is West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.
It covers 6 local places - Bradford district and Craven, Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield.
Many of the things that are in the white paper are things that we already do in West Yorkshire and Harrogate.
When the white paper becomes a law it will make it easier for health and care organisations to work together.
It will replace some laws that have made it difficult for this to happen in the past.
The main points in the white paper are that:
NHS England and NHS Improvement spoke to lots of different people who use and work in services like local councils, voluntary organisations and others.
They ran 30 sessions and talked about what they need to do to improve the health of everyone in their communities.
They looked at work that has been done by areas that already have an ICS.
This included the work that we have done in West Yorkshire and Harrogate.
NHS England and NHS Improvement then asked people to look at the plans for the white paper. They held sessions with patient groups, charities and other organisations.
They used information from the NHS Long Term Plan and other plans.
They also used things that had been learned from the COVID-19 pandemic where organisations had to work together.
As we already have an ICS in West Yorkshire, we will carry on with our good working arrangements and build on them for the future to meet the new requirements.
Our Partnership Board which started in 2019, includes all of our local places and partners.
It focusses on everyone working together to make health and care better for everyone who lives across our area. This will carry on.
Our hospitals and other providers such as mental health, learning disability and autism will continue to work well together so people can access good care close to where they live.
The important changes we made to the way we work during the COVID-19 pandemic will continue.
This is things like health, social care and the voluntary sector working together to support people who were shielding.
An important part of our work is to make sure that everyone has the same chance of good health and that we improve the lives of the poorest, the fastest.
This means we will look at all the other things that can affect a person’s health and wellbeing.
These are things like where they live, their home, whether they have a job, how much money they have and so on.
We are pleased that the white paper says that this is an important thing to do.
How the NHS, the council and health care providers work in our local areas will be left to them to arrange.
The ICS will work to support them to come together and improve outcomes for everyone.
We want to make sure that we make the right decisions about our health and care services so we aim to involve people with lived experience from the start.
Our work with Healthwatch and patient and public groups helps us to do this and will continue.
We will continue to work with voluntary and community organisations as they play an important role in our partnership.
The changes in the white paper will let us involve them in a way that is best for the people they work with.
The government will look at the white paper and decide the next steps.
The white paper could become a law later this year and areas will have to follow the new rules by April 2022, if it is agreed.
In the meantime we will continue to work with NHS England and NHS Improvement to understand the changes.
We have already started to review our ways of working to make sure that we are doing everything we should be.
The NHS England/NHS Improvement Board Meeting in November 2020 set out the direction of travel for integrated care systems, which West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership is also known as, and proposed options for legislative change to support this. Much of the vision set out in the document fits well with the approach we take in West Yorkshire and Harrogate and the future ambitions we have agreed in terms of how we want to work. There is a strong emphasis on provider collaboration, the role of partnership working at place level (Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) and close partnership with local councils. There also appears to be permissiveness and flexibility in the approach outlined which can be tailored to local system’s needs – which are welcomed.
Our Partnership proudly brings together the NHS, commissioners, providers, local authorities, the voluntary community sector enterprise and Healthwatch, at a place and a West Yorkshire and Harrogate level. All, including local political leaders and chairs of health and wellbeing boards, are influential members of our Partnership Board. Their collective strength provides greater opportunities to deliver on our ambitions, reducing future demand for healthcare by working to ensure that people are given the best start in life, with every chance to remain healthy and age well.
Our Five Year Plan, co-produced and published in March 2020, and our Improving Population Health Annual Report launched in December 2020, sets out the difference we are collectively making. Both were authored with an approach that sees the NHS plans as one chapter in a bigger story that encompasses the wider determinants of health and harnesses the contribution of all.
We were invited to submit our response to NHS England/NHS Improvement by Friday 8 January 2021.
There was also a response submitted by the following on behalf of the Partnership:
You can also read the response from the West Yorkshire Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee, who scrutinise the work of the Partnership, as well as constructively challenge the work we do:
To find out more about what this means for the Partnership you can also read:
In this long read, The Kings Fund also describes the main proposals of the NHS legislation.
