Posted on: 6 August 2021
Hello, my name is Ian.
I’d like to use this blog to talk some more about the work we are doing in preparation to become a statutory Integrated Care System from next April.
This White Paper marks the first major change in health legislation to the 2012 Health and Social Care Act introduced by the coalition government (widely known as the ‘Lansley reforms’). The first two readings of the draft Bill took place in Parliament last month.
The proposed changes reflect much of what has been going on over the past five years through the development of Integrated Care Systems. We know that with an ageing population people are increasingly living with multiple ongoing health conditions. The best way to support and meet the needs of people is for local services to work together and join up care so that it is as seamless as possible for everyone.
The new legislation aims to remove some of the unhelpful competition and procurement arrangements that currently exist and establish in law what partnerships like ours aim to bring together NHS, local government, voluntary community social enterprise sector and citizens to help facilitate this joined up working.
The legislation confirms that ICSs will be established in two ways: Through an “Integrated Care Partnership” which will operate in a similar way to our existing partnership board, bringing together a range of health and local authority partners to set the strategy for the ICS; and through an “Integrated Care Board” which will be responsible for developing the plans that delivers the strategy, and be accountable for NHS funding and performance.
Our Partnership has frequently asked for there to be flexibility within the legislation so that we can develop arrangements that are tailored to our needs so that we are able to continue to deliver our strategy and make real progress on improving outcomes. This looks like the case, and the legislation and associated guidance from NHS England sets out the minimum expectations and requirements around which there is significant scope for local tailoring.
One important development following the second reading of the Bill is that the adverts for the role of the Chair of the Integrated Care Board have been published. 17 of the 42 Integrated Care Systems are recruiting though this route, including ourselves. You can find out more here.
This is a critical role for our Partnership. It is essential that our chair has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the health and care system to support our transformation and delivery agenda.
Values and behaviours are equally important: our partnership is founded on inclusivity, collaboration, openness and trust and it is critical that this role embodies and further embeds these values. We are also keen to ensure that there are applicants from all backgrounds. The job adverts close on August 17th and our selection process will take place in early September.
We anticipate that the process to recruit the Chief Executive Officer will begin in the next few weeks. This will be another important milestone in our development.
In parallel with this our design work continues. We are now getting into the detail of how our future governance arrangements will work, including the role, function and membership of the Board of the Integrated Care Board, its relationship with the Integrated Care Partnership, and how delegation of statutory functions to place level will work in practice. Our current working arrangements, described in our Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) provide a strong platform for this work, and we are looking forward to a more detailed discussion with the Partnership Board in September. This will be held in public via digital technology, and you can watch it live on the Partnership's website.
The context for health and care services is currently challenging, for all services across all places. It is essential that we do not allow this transition to be a distraction from the key work of co-ordinating the COVID response and providing effective services that meet the growing needs of people.
We have seen during the pandemic how strong partnerships and collaboration have enabled an effective response, and we need to view these changes as an enabler to tackle the challenges we face and deliver our partnership ambitions.
Have a good weekend.
Ian
What else has been happening this week?
Nearly 500 organisations back Root Out Racism movement
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership and the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) alongside nearly 500 organisations and community allies are getting ready to launch the anti-racism movement on Monday 23 August.
Movement supporters include NHS organisations, councils, West Yorkshire Police, Healthwatch, hospices, universities, housing associations, unions, and the voluntary community social enterprise sector. High profile supporters include Cllr Shabir Pandor leader of Kirklees Council who is also the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership lead for the movement; West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin; Yorkshire Cricket Club; Yorkshire Sports Foundation, Keighley Cougars, The Leeds United Foundation, Community Foundation at Wakefield Trinity, Bradford Bulls Foundation, Castleford Tigers and Halifax Panthers (rugby) to name a few.
West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable John Robins QPM said:
“West Yorkshire Police are proud to support the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Anti-Racism Movement. We are committed to tackling racism in all its forms. We are determined to improve diversity, equality, and inclusion in the workplace and in all that we do. We have a really strong and clear Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy, we are a signatory of the Race at Work Charter and for many years we have been named as one of the UK Top 20 Inclusive Employers.
However, there is always more to be done to tackle racism. Internally with our officers and staff we run monthly “inclusion themes”, such as a recent ‘impact of language’ theme, to help create a more inclusive culture. We also actively support the National Inclusion Week each year in September, the next theme being United for Inclusion, to better equip our officers and staff. Over the last year we have worked hard to deliver updated unconscious bias training to nearly 10,000 of our officers and staff. Over the coming months we are delivering a new community and cultural awareness programme to all officers and staff, to continue to build their skills and awareness. So, we are pleased to join the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Anti-Racism Movement to show our clear commitment and support.”
You can register to join the movement at http://
Children and Young People Programme
Our Partnership’s Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) Programme Board met on 28 July 2021. The meeting was chaired by Sue Rumbold, our director for the programme.
The Board was consulted on the Partnership’s approach to new statutory arrangements with integrated care systems like ours expected to become statutory partnerships on 1 April 2022 if Parliament confirms its creation and how this can further strengthen our well-established approach to working together. The Board focused on:
- The strength of the Programme, which is recognised nationally
- Maintaining a strong focus on children and young people in future Partnership strategic documents
- Creating a structure that enables us to go further faster with our whole system approach of the programme with a wide range of partners.
The Board received an overview of programme workstreams and discussed proposals going forward highlighting the following areas:
- Updating the programme structure
- Summarising the Programme’s ‘big ambitions’
- Strengthening how the Programme works with our local places and education settings
- Undertaking an analysis of the assets and needs of children and young people across the area to strengthen our understanding of what does it feels like to be a child or young person growing up across West Yorkshire and Harrogate, which will be used to inform the future priorities of our Programme
- Developing the role of the Programme Board.
The Board also received a presentation from Emily Castle (Wakefield Young Lives Consortium) and Peter Horner (Young Lives Bradford), on behalf of CYP VCSE reps from each Place on strengthening how the CYPF Programme works with the CYP VCSE sector. The Board:
- Heard of the challenges for CYP VCSE organisations to work with the CYPF Programme at a WYH level
- Agreed to establish of a series of programme and voluntary social enterprise sector (VCSE) events that will enable organisations to learn more about the programme and co-produce how this will look going forward
- Agreed to establish a VCSE Reference Group jointly with our Harnessing the Power of Communities Programme. The Board also welcomed the next phase of the award-winning social movement ‘Looking out for our neighbours’, which is being co-produced with young people for launch in September 2021 and will be known as ‘Looking out for each other’. Members agreed its focus on:
- Loneliness, building resilience and creating a social movement of kindness
- Creating postcards to be placed in frequented areas to encourage young people to give acts of kindness and promote it on social media through #spreadthekindness as part of the campaign
- Working with communities of interest within the campaign.
Clinical Forum
The Clinical Forum met virtually on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Dr James Thomas. Forum members include medical directors, GPs, pharmacists, allied health professionals, lead nurses and NHS England colleagues.
Members received an update on restarting planned / preventative clinical care and staff support. Personalised care was also on the agenda, and this has become even more vital during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a Partnership we are committed to supporting programmes and services to embed personalised care principles and approaches during reset and recovery.
There was also a discussion on the emergence of long-COVID with people having multiple symptoms. This has shone a further light on the need for rehabilitation services for people.
System Leadership Executive Group
The System Leadership Executive Group meets monthly and is chaired by Rob Webster, our CEO lead. Rob gave an update on current national and regional news, including Amanda Pritchard being announced as Simon Seven’s successor – she formally took up the post as NHS E CEO on Monday 1 August 2021.
Leaders discussed infection rates, system recovery, the new draft digital strategy and cyber-security, as well as the legislation future design and transition work including recruitment to the Chair of our NHS ICS Board, and understanding rehabilitation in our Partnership.
News from the Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub
Nabila Ayub has joined the Hub project team under the Partnership’s Fellowship Programme.
Nabila oversees Business Development for the Employment & Skills Department at Bradford Council, which includes employer engagement in the education space through to developing recruitment solutions for those businesses. Prior to this role Nabila was the Equality & Diversity Adviser at Leeds Beckett University, something she is passionate about for both staff and young people’s experience. Nabila is keen on learning some new skills to add to her mix around health and wellbeing by joining the Hub and believes that this will also help her substantive role in supporting businesses across the district. Nabila was particularly drawn to this project because of her experience in EDI, working with ethnic minority communities and inexperience in the health sector, which she believes could be combined to develop a stretching opportunity.
Nabila worked at Mosaic both at Business in the Community and The Princes Trust as Area North Manager, overseeing operations across Scotland, Yorkshire, and the North West, managing a range of stakeholder relationships in the corporate and public services, including donors, Regional Leadership Group Members, volunteers, mentors, and schools. She has around 16 years of experience in the third sector which include working regionally, nationally, and internationally on programmes designed to impact disadvantaged communities.
Working under the Fellowship Programme Nabila will be supporting the work of the Hub two days a week on a 12-month placement.
Topically, Nabila is interested in sports, holding a second-degree black belt in Jujitsu and occasionally coach, grade students when work isn’t keeping her too busy.
You can find more news about the Hub on our new Hub News page on our website.
Partnership’s Race Equality Network
The network continues to advance equality, diversity, and inclusion priorities for the Partnership. This includes the following.
REN inclusion week celebration
The network has been designing a virtual ‘Connected on Inclusion’ week that will run week from the 4 of October 2021. The event is an opportunity to celebrate the journey taken by the Partnership so far as we continue to strive for increased race equality, further diverse leadership in decision making roles and an inclusive work environment. The week will also provide delegates with the opportunity to further develop connections across our health and care systems, share best practice and hear from expert speakers. Inspirational leaders from across our health and care systems will share the work they are doing on diversity and inclusion. Confirmed speakers so far include our Chief Executive Rob Webster CBE, Professor Michael West CBE, and Councillor Shabir Pandor, Leader for Kirklees Council. Sessions throughout the week will include discussions on compassionate leadership, belonging, systems connected on inclusion, and brave leadership to name a few. The week will end with the inaugural Race Equality Network awards evening which will provide us with an opportunity to truly celebrate the huge talent amongst us.
Skills audit
The race equality network has been building on the development of network members and working to support the ‘commitment to our people’. The network has rolled out a skills audit for its members and aim to utilise data to support succession planning. This will include the development of a West Yorkshire and Harrogate talent pool that supports positive action for people from ethnic minorities.
REN website
The race equality network has been designing the structure for a network webpage. Aiming to support local staff networks to enhance their influence and effectiveness, the network will host a plethora of resources that are available to people working across our Partnership. The network is aiming to launch this during the ‘Connected on Inclusion’ week in October 2021.
Our review recommendations
The anti-racism movement is due for launch on 23 August 2021. Work to map recruitment and selection pathways is also underway with phase one including the design of an inclusive recruitment blueprint followed by phase two which will roll out a system wide implementation plan. We are also hoping to launch a Partnership mentoring framework in the coming months which will include various mentoring offers to meet development needs of people working across our Partnership. One example being establishing career mentoring sessions for candidates who will be matched with members from the Fellowship Programme. Scoping the plans for independent disciplinary panels is also underway with HR leads from mental health, learning disabilities and autism trusts leading on this recommendation. They are working with network members to co-produce this work with wide engagement.
Bradford Act as One award for European partnership
Connected Bradford has been awarded €70,000 to join as a partner of the European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN). Connected Bradford, hosted by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, links disparate routine electronic data in an anonymised database across primary care, secondary care, community care and social care for over 700,000 individuals across Bradford District and Craven.
The area has been selected from a competition of 55 applicants from 20 countries across Europe to join other major healthcare research databases as a data partner of the EHDEN. This will give unparalleled access to research through EHDEN’S Open Science Network and the global Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (or OHDSI, pronounced "Odyssey") research network.
By joining the EHDEN, partners will be able to have a greater overview of connected datasets that improve population health, offer opportunities to share innovation and link with wider data that offer a range of benefits. This includes improved health and care pathways through to effective evaluation of interventions within a broader framework such as impact on the health and care economy.
This collaborative way of working is another example of how continue to work as a health and care partnership across our place under Act as One.
EHDEN was launched to address the current challenges in generating insights and evidence from real-world clinical data at scale in understanding wellbeing, disease, treatments, outcomes and new therapeutics and devices. More information on EHDEN can be found by visiting https:/
Helping GP practices get the most out of GP Online Consultation
We are emailing GP practices with questions and answers and top tips to help colleagues get the most out of GP Online Consultation, now in place in over 99% of GP surgeries in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. The number of patients using the online form is increasing but there is a lot of variation and we want to encourage the use of online consultation systems in a way that delivers benefits for both practices and patients. Sometimes a few simple tweaks to processes can greatly improve workflow efficiencies.
Check out our two-minute animated video and the questions and answers on our revamped GP Online Consultation website pages for more information.