The health service is going through one of the biggest and most exciting changes since it was set up in 1948. It must change if it is to work for future generations. The challenges of dealing with the pandemic have made this very clear. Currently health services, such as GP practices and hospitals, and care services are all run by separate organisations. This means some people can fall between the cracks.
This way of working, called integrated care, is carried out across England through 42 new organisations called integrated care systems. It's all about working better for people's health and brings councils and the health service together. West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership is an integrated care system.
How health and care work together
When the NHS was set up in the 1940s its aim was to treat symptoms. It has come a long way since then, supporting people to live healthier lives. This change is continuing along that journey and aims to make social care and health even more aligned. Our health is affected by many things – housing, unemployment, financial stress, domestic abuse, poverty, and lifestyle choices. This is something that we look at through a partnership between the NHS, local councils, Healthwatch, hospices and the voluntary community social enterprise sector.
Working with councils as equal partners is extremely important. Many councils have taken steps to improve the health of their communities. These steps are included in their policies and plans for housing, early years, growth, skills, and employment. Our local councils also have lots of information about their area, such as levels of poverty and housing problems, which they share with health services. They also run social care services, so they can now make sure that people’s needs are linked up with health. This means that if someone is leaving hospital, they can make sure there is support, either in a care home or when they get home. You can see examples of how we work together with councils already here.
It’s important to note that in West Yorkshire, the NHS and councils already work well in partnership at a local level and have done for many years. Many councils have very well-established partnerships with health services, and their local partners including voluntary community social enterprise sector.
For example, every location already has established health and wellbeing boards and health overview and scrutiny committees.
These statutory bodies, run by councils, will continue to exist within our Partnership structure.
Place level
This is where most health and care services will be delivered, including hospital care.
There will be place-based partnerships, where local hospitals, care providers, local councils, doctors, and voluntary community organisations come together to discuss key health and care issues in their place. Our local place-based existing partnerships will continue.
System level
Our Partnership is made up of two key bodies:
- Integrated care partnership (we call this our Partnership Board). Our board links in with all the wider partners including NHS organisations, councils, Healthwatch, the voluntary community social enterprise sector. The board covers health and care, housing, and employment etc. at place level. Through discussion with those partners, the partnership uses the information about the local population to create a plan for helping everyone who lives in the system area to live healthily.
- Integrated care board. The board oversees NHS money and helps to make sure the services are in place to make the strategy become a reality on the ground.
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
We are a partnership of NHS, local government, voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and communities. Our Partnership is overseen by an integrated care partnership board which sets our strategy.
We exist to deliver this vision and in doing so reduce health inequalities, reduce unwarranted variations in care, spend our resources wisely and deliver the biggest social and economic return we can for the investments we make.
We have worked together since 2016 to develop a shared vision for health and care services across West Yorkshire.
- Places will be healthy - you will have the best start in life, so you can live and age well
- If you have long term health conditions, you will be supported to self-care through GPs and social care services working together. This will include peer support and via technology, such as telemedicine
- If you have multiple health conditions, there will be a team supporting your physical, social, and mental health needs. This will involve you, your family and carers, the NHS, social care, and voluntary and community organisations
- If you need hospital care, it will usually mean going to your local hospital, which works closely with others to give you the best care possible
- Local hospitals will be supported by centres of excellence for services such as cancer and stroke
- All of this will be planned and paid for together, with councils and the NHS working together to remove the barriers created by planning and paying for services separately. For example, community and hospital care working together
- Communities and colleagues will be involved in the development and design of plans so that everyone truly owns their health care services.
Our mission, values and behaviours guide us in all the work we do. Find out more about our leadership journey
You can also find out more about the work of West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership on the 'About us' page on the Partnership website.
Summary
Integrated care systems are taking collaboration to the next level. For example, integrated care boards will have a statutory duty to “have regard to” advice from integrated care partnership boards (our Partnership Board). This means that the integrated care board will actively listen and proactively hear what our Partnership Board has to say. They must be clearly able to demonstrate that they have engaged fully with any advice or proposals they receive, to the extent that they consider them fully and report their findings in a timely manner.
Integrated care system – the overarching system in which care is joined up for the benefit of every patient and citizen, meaning there are no cracks for people to fall through. Research suggests that people who don’t fall through cracks have a much better experience of care, live longer, reduce pressure on emergency departments and are more likely to use the service again or recommend it to a friend. West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership is an integrated care system.
Integrated care board – the main decision-making body for the overarching footprint, the Board is responsible for ensuring that the system delivers the efficiency savings that will enable us to do more for less and generates greater than ever levels of reinvestment in national priorities in future years.
The Integrated care partnership board (our Partnership Board) is responsible for providing a voice across our health and care system.
Place is where the real work of integration takes place, which is why it is unencumbered by budgets or statutory powers. Every place will have an accountable person / place-based leader, an individual empowered to listen to feedback from local partners, including the health and wellbeing board, voluntary community social enterprise sector.
Our integrated care board will devolve budgets to places, so they can have a “say” in how the money is spent so they can meet people’s needs.
Find out more about Integrated Care Systems on the NHS England website