West Yorkshire and Harrogate set for multi-million pound health and social care funding boost

Posted on: 22 August 2018

West Yorkshire and Harrogate set for multi-million pound health and social care funding boost

 

The health and care system across West Yorkshire and Harrogate will benefit from additional funding as move to Integrated Care System pays early dividends. 

 

In May 2018, organisations in West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (WY&H HCP) were given additional freedom and flexibility to manage the delivery of local services in Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Leeds, Kirklees and Wakefield when it joined the Integrated Care System Development Programme.

 

As a result, the partnership has now been allocated over £8.5m transformation funding by NHS England to improve a host of key priorities across the area. At a WY&H HCP leadership meeting in August 2018, it was agreed that funding would go toward:

  • The development of a Primary Care Network / Communities (£2.6m) which will strengthen general practice and join it up with hospitals, mental health professionals and community organisations so that people with health and/ or social care needs who could otherwise receive fragmented care, with multiple referrals and handovers receive seamless support.

  • The implementation of major improvements in urgent and emergency care delivery across WY&H (£4m) to help ensure that people receive the right care at the right time in the right place.

  • Ensuring capacity to deliver Partnership programmes – Strengthening the programmes we are working on together to improve health and care across WY&H – focusing on improving mental health services; preventing ill health; supporting the 260,000 unpaid carers  who live across the area; and modernising our digital communications and IT systems for patients and professionals (£1m)

  • £1m will also go toward supporting voluntary and community organisations through the WY&H HCP Harnessing the Power of Communities Programme. Community and voluntary partners will be allocated additional resources through their partnership work with local councils and the Health and Wellbeing Boards to help tackle loneliness and social isolation which has a major impact on people’s health and wellbeing.

 

Rob Webster CEO Lead for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership said:  ‘This investment in our Partnership is a down payment on the transformation funding we want to see invested in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. It will support our drive to improve the health and care of the 2.6million people living across the area.

 

We are targeting the money on the important issues – tackling loneliness and isolation, developing joined up services in communities, with general practice as a cornerstone; and delivering better urgent and emergency care. This reflects a true partnership between councils, the NHS, communities and the voluntary sector’.

 

Dr Soo Nevison, CEO for Community Action Bradford and District and Lead for Harnessing the Power of Communities said: ‘The allocation of £1m to address loneliness via local grass roots voluntary and community organisations (VCS) based in our communities further affirms the commitment of the WY&H HCP to work with the VCS in the delivery of excellent and health and social care outcomes.  We look forward to developing services in partnership with our communities that enable people to feel less isolated and result in improvements in their general health and wellbeing’.

 

Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and CEO lead for West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT) said: It is good news that the Partnership has secured this additional funding.  This will kick-start projects to support patients to receive the best possible care in the most appropriate place for their needs, whether that is in the community or in hospital’.

 

Dr Andy Withers, Chair of West Yorkshire and Harrogate Clinical Forum and Clinical Chair of Bradford Districts Clinical Commissioning Groups said: Connecting care where GPs, social care, housing, voluntary and community organisations and communities themselves work side-by-side to help people stay well and out of hospital is key to the development of Primary Care Networks / Communities. As a GP I recognise that people don’t want to tell their story more than once. It can be very frustrating working with a number of different organisations. People understandably want joined up care from health and social care services working together when they need them. The investment to support this important work is both needed and welcomed’.

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