Preventing ill health

We want to improve the way that services are provided with a greater focus on helping people earlier rather than later and keeping people well.

Examples of this include:

Supporting people to stop smoking - nearly 20% of people smoke in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. This is higher than the national average
Reducing the number of people admitted to hospital due to alcohol consumption by 500 every year and reducing the number of ambulance call-outs for related incidents. In West Yorkshire and Harrogate alcohol consumption is a major concern - there are around 455,000 heavy drinkers across the area
People with long term health conditions spend most of their time looking after themselves. We want to support them to do this with a focus on preventing illness, so they can stay well
In West Yorkshire and Harrogate there are higher than average childhood obesity levels and 50% of people are overweight. We want to provide more people with support to help them to lead healthier lives
Over 200,000 people are at risk of diabetes in the area. Our aspiration is that 50% of these people are offered diabetes prevention support.

You can read this presentation to find out more about our plans for a preventative approach to health and social care for our local population.

Health inequalities

In this video; John Walsh, Organisational Development Lead and Freedom To Speak Up Guardian at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, talks about how we are tackling health inequalities in West Yorkshire and Harrogate:

Housing and health

In this video, Jacqui Gedman, Chief Executive at Kirklees Council, and Sarah Roxby from Wakefield District Housing and NHS Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group talk about the effecting housing has on health, and how partners are working together in new ways to improve people's health in relation to their housing and environment.

Population health management

We are working with NHS England to develop a network to share good practice across our six local areas (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) so that we can improve the health outcomes of groups of people in our areas and break down health inequalities. The health of a population is influenced by a wide range of factors and the interactions between them. They include the local environment – such as the conditions in which people live and work; social and economic factors – like education, income and employment; lifestyles – including what people eat and drink, whether they smoke, and how much physical activity they do; and access to health care and other public and private services. Age, sex and genes make a difference to health too, as well as social networks and the wider society in which people live. There is a lot of good work taking place acrss the area and we want to share and spread good practice in West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

You can read a report from The Kings Fund on population health management; A vision for population health: Towards a healthier future

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Healthy Hearts

The aim of West Yorkshire and Harrogate's Healthy Hearts initiative is to reduce the impact of heart disease and diabetes and prevent the number of heart-related illness, including heart attacks, every year across West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

The Partnership has have been working with the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network and the area's Clinical Commissioning Groups to identity the groups of local people who will benefit the most from the Healthy Hearts programme, and in February 2019 we launched the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Healthy Hearts website, which includes information about cardio vascular disease, hypertension, cholesterol and advice for people to make better lifestyle choices.

Alcohol Liaison Service

Partners in Wakefield have saved an estimated £1.5 million in the past 4 years by dramatically reducing the number of admissions due to alcohol-related illness and injury.

The Alcohol Liaison Service is commissioned by the public health team at Wakefield Council and delivered by Spectrum Community Health CIC at Pinderfields Hospital. The service, which began in 2013, currently employs two full-time alcohol liaison nurses. They provide support and treatment for a wide range of alcohol-related concerns, including advice on safer drinking, clinical alcohol detox, support managing alcohol-related health conditions and signposting to partner agencies which provide access to counselling and community recovery. The team supports colleagues in the hospital by overseeing discharge planning between hospital care, recovery services, GP and community services, as well as facilitating regular substance misuse training for frontline staff in departments which see the highest levels of alcohol-related admissions.

In West Yorkshire and Harrogate there are around 455,000 heavy drinkers. Collectively, partners spend millions dealing with alcohol-related health issues, particularly in our acute hospitals. The issue contributes significantly to a wide range of conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancers, mental health issues and accidental injuries. Our ambition as a Partnership is to reduce the number of people admitted to hospital due to alcohol consumption by 500 every year.

Thanks to the Wakefield team’s work there were 34% fewer alcohol-specific hospital admission episodes in 2016/17 compared to 2013/14. Over the same period, the number of hospital readmissions reduced by 36% and the number of associated bed days per year by 26%.