Posted on: 8 August 2019
This week’s leadership message comes from Karen Jackson, CEO for Locala Community Partnerships CIC. Karen is also one of two senior responsible officers for the Partnership’s carers’ programme. The other is Richard Parry, Director for Commissioning, Public Health and Adult Social Care, at Kirklees Council.
Hello my name is Karen,
Having worked in the NHS, namely hospital services for over 25 years I took the positive career decision to move outside the NHS family last year to join Locala CIC which is a social enterprise based in Kirklees.
The time seemed right for me to learn more about ‘out of hospital’ services delivered in our communities rather than expressing opinions from afar, which, on reflection, were often misguided.
It was a bold step – but I’m delighted to say I have been welcomed wholeheartedly by my peers in Kirklees and the ‘Locala family’ and any nervousness I had about a slight change in direction have been diminished.
It’s fair to say I have learned a lot about the power of inclusion and the complexity of out of hospital care and most importantly the need to meet people’s needs in the communities and neighbourhoods where they live and in their homes.
Locala CIC delivers adult and children community services across Kirklees and also some in Calderdale and Bradford. As a Community Interest Company (CIC) we are listed at Companies House and are a social enterprise. This means our members (staff, partners and community leads) are required to use any surplus funding and assets for public good.
We have a Council of Members drawn from colleagues, partners and the local community and this group sets the direction of the organisation as well has having a number of statutory duties such as appointing the chair or non-executive directors (NEDs). Our Board is made up of NEDs and Executives. It also includes colleague representation to demonstrate our commitment to our values and that of all staff. We reinvest our surpluses in our services and the local community which we serve. These investments have been wide ranging from the development of Tea and Tech cafes in Dearne Valley aimed at reducing isolation to contributions to local schools, Brownies and various community groups to support communities and young people. All our investment is aimed at ensuring we meet our overarching vision.
Our vision is:
‘Making a positive difference to the wellbeing of the people and communities we serve’.
In order to achieve our ambitions we have four strategic priorities:
- Delivering high quality care
- Improving population health
- Making a difference in communities
- Being a sustainable organisation
Being outside the NHS whilst delivering NHS and council commissioned services brings a unique perspective – it brings an added benefit in that we are able to have conversations between the NHS, council and community organisations in a way that is unusual as we have a foot in all camps (if you can have three feet!). We take our local relationships with our partners and our communities very seriously and I truly believe we all have something to bring to our health and care system – which is all about delivering high quality care to over 450,000 people.
Using this interesting new dimension has allowed us to challenge some of the current ways of working. In Kirklees we now have an integrated provider board which is really driving relationship building, development of trust and importantly ensuring that the Kirklees Health and Wellbeing Plan is being turned into reality with clear, deliverable outcomes.
I have also been thrilled by the way that we have been welcomed, included and encouraged in our involvement with West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership. I truly believe this brings huge benefits to all involved – and most importantly the people receiving support.
We have also had the opportunity to build good relationships with many special and inspiring social enterprises around the country and, on talking to them about integrated care systems like the Partnership, I can confirm that good relationships like ours are not always the case and in many situations they are positively excluded from these important conversations.
I continue to keep in touch with the social enterprise family whose work is creative, inspiring and developmental in a way that sometimes statutory organisations are not able to be. Locala is a learning organisation and in true West Yorkshire and Harrogate Partnership style we are very keen to share good practice and learning much wider than within our own organisation.
Alongside other CEOs in the Partnership I’ve taken on collective responsibility for an important area of work. I am delighted to be the joint Senior Responsible Officer for the Unpaid Carers Programme and I am also leading the work with colleagues across the area on how we can develop end of life care at a system level and ensure it is linked in with all the other West Yorkshire and Harrogate programmes of work, such as cancer.
I believe the genuine inclusiveness of our Partnership is unique and we must continue to ensure this is the case and take every opportunity we are given to be engaged and fully involved. Only by doing so will we reap the rewards of this approach. I, for one, am all in and I know my team and colleagues really appreciate the opportunity to be part of the Partnership family.
Have a good weekend
Karen
*There is more information here in a recent publication from NHS Confederation:’ Social enterprises: part of the NHS family – an explanatory guide for the wider NHS’ in case helpful.
Another new podcast: We Work For You
We’ve already produced two episodes of the ‘We Work Together’ podcast, all about working in partnership to improve health and care for people in West Yorkshire and Harrogate, and we have now produced our first episode of the ‘We Work For You’ podcast.
Whilst ‘We Work Together’ episodes are more likely to be of interest to partner organisations, ‘We Work For You’ episodes are more relevant to the general public. In these episodes, we’ll be sharing information about the health and care services available in West Yorkshire and Harrogate, and explaining how the Partnership is working to improve those services.
The first episode of ‘We Work For You’ features Dr. James Thomas, Clinical Chair of Airedale Wharfedale Craven CCG and Clinical Lead for the Partnership’s Improving Planned Care Programme.
James explains what planned care actually is and how the programme is working to deliver the most appropriate and effective planned care for the people of West Yorkshire and Harrogate. He talks about the so called ‘postcode lottery’ and why access to health services, and the eligibility criteria for them, should be the same for everyone.
And how exactly is the Improving Planned Care Programme working to get rid of any variation that currently exists in West Yorkshire and Harrogate? Listen here to find out.
What else has been happening this week?
Partnership to receive £12million for pathology system thanks to NHS Capital Funding
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership will receive £12million of NHS Capital Funding to implement a single, shared Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for the area.
The funding, announced on Monday will be used to enable a single, system wide approach for pathology across West Yorkshire and Harrogate acute hospitals:
- Airedale District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
- Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Once in place the system will mean test requests can be ordered, tracked and results reported electronically to clinical services across West Yorkshire and Harrogate. All will have equal access to patient information, regardless of where the hospital is based.
Duplications in test requests will also be reduced as it will be possible to check whether a patient has already received a test prior to requesting. A single pathology service will mean testing processes and systems will also be standardised across West Yorkshire and Harrogate. You can read more here.
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme: engagement work – add picture from Newsome image folder
A five year plan for the Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme is being developed to set out the work needed to deliver improvements in each of these important areas of work. Alongside this we will be asking for the views of Inclusion North (advocates for those with a learning disability and/or autism) to undertake a ‘check and confirm’ style review of what is included in the developing strategy and how it is described. This will help set out the direction for further engagement; for example around making mental health services more accessible for people of all ages; reducing waiting times; developing support for people with autism; investment in mental health awareness and importantly improved access for people with autism, ADHD and learning disabilities.
Public engagement
We are looking at the way in which care is provided across the existing three assessment and treatment units for people with learning disabilities and how as an area we make the best collective use of our services so we can support people to live independently (and safely) in their communities. You can read the report from the engagement work done so far here.
Children and young people’s mental health
CommonRoom Consulting has gathered the views of young people who have stayed in a child adolescent mental health inpatient unit so that we can gain insight and test the approach we are taking. Further work is underway with families of young people (particularly fathers and siblings) to consider whether the way we are working (new care model) has worked for them too.
Adult eating disorders
Leeds and York Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust hosts the CONNECT service for adult eating disorders across West Yorkshire. It provides specialist hospital beds, a coordinated approach and early support to those suffering from an eating disorder. Integral to the development and delivery of the CONNECT model has been the engagement with people who have lived experience and carers, this includes a reference group which reports into the CONNECT Programme Board. Some of the work delivered as a result includes a campaign to reduce stigma in local communities and additional support from a minority ethnic groups outreach worker to ensure equality of access for all.
Children with autism/ADHD
A significant amount of local engagement takes place in our six local places (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) in partnership with families and community organisations. It is through this engagement that we understand the biggest challenges for people; including waiting times, issues with a lack of definitive diagnosis; the need for educational and post diagnostic support and broader awareness and training requirements amongst health and care workers. You can read our engagement mapping report here.
Adults with autism
The Yorkshire and Humber Operational Delivery Group holds a specific sub-group for community and voluntary service engagement. This helps shape our understanding of the largest issues to resolve; including gaps in provision between mental health services for those with autism.
Suicide prevention
Following publication of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Suicide Prevention Strategy in November 2018 a network of engagement with experts by experience has started. This included the ‘Messages of Hope’ campaign on world suicide prevention day. Work continues to engage experts in the development of postvention services (support to families’ bereaved following suicide of a loved one).
Forensic services
Yorkshire and Humber involvement network has held a range of interactive workshops to engage service users, and front-line staff in the development of new models, and clinical pathways.
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Clinical Forum
The Clinical Forum met on Tuesday. The meeting is chaired by Dr Andy Withers. It includes medical directors, GPs, pharmacists, allied health professionals and lead nurses. Clinical Forum members received an update on respiratory work from Dr Katherine Hickman, the Partnership’s lead for respiratory and a GP in Bradford, and Shane Hayward-Giles from Right Care. Katherine and Shane put forward a proposal on how the Partnership might work together in respect of respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. Clinical Forum members agreed to support a new project from / around local place-based improvement activity (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield). The project would start work on improving uptake and accessibility of pulmonary rehabilitation (an educational programme to help those with breathing problems feel more confident with carrying out their daily lives) shortly, with the rest of the project starting in April 2020.
Katherine emphasised the importance of considering all the factors involved in improving the respiratory health of our communities, such as reducing smoking and tackling fuel poverty; and said that the new project would join up with the Partnership’s ‘Improving Population Health Management’ programme on these issues. In putting the respiratory project together, we will learn from existing good practice within West Yorkshire and Harrogate, as well as other successful models of improving respiratory outcomes such as a current Welsh national programme.
The project would have number of key aims, including
- Improving early and accurate detection of respiratory illnesses
- Ensuing best practice in prescribing
- Ensuring high quality long-term care
- Improving uptake and accessibility of pulmonary rehabilitation.
This work will also help us to meet the objectives of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Dr James Thomas and Catherine Thompson (Improving Planned Care Programme) asked forum members for their thoughts on the knee and shoulder pain good practice policies. These policies are being driven by clinicians - through the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (hospitals working together) for example. Making sure that the policies improve outcomes for people is important and this will be discussed at a future Joint Committee of the Clinical Commissioning Groups.
The Joint Committee of the Clinical Commissioning Group (development session)
The Joint Committee held their development session on Tuesday, chaired by Marie Burnham, independent lay chair. We welcomed our new Joint Committee Lay Member for Public, Patient Involvement Stephen Hardy, who is also a Lay Member for Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group.
There was an update on the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Programme. It is a large programme of work ranging from the delivery of specialist hospital services to addressing the wider determinants of poor mental health, such as unemployment, housing and poverty. Over the next couple of months, a key priority for the programme is to finalise the five-year strategy. There was also an update on the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Healthy Hearts programme which aims to reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease and save lives in our region by helping to prevent people from having a heart attacks or strokes. The Joint Committee supported the formalisation of governance arrangements for the Healthy Hearts Project.
There was an update on the work of the Improving Planned Care Programme and a discussion on variation in rates of hip replacement surgery across West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership. The importance of breaking down health inequalities as a whole and having a workforce which reflects our communities is essential. A focus on behaviour change at every level is equally important. All need to be reflected in future policies coming to the Joint Committee of the Clinical Commissioning Groups for decision-making.
System Leadership Executive Group
The Executive Group met on Tuesday. This includes leaders from all partner sectors, including councils, hospitals, clinical commissioning groups, Healthwatch and community organisations. Leaders discussed the agenda for the meeting in public of the Partnership Board on Tuesday 3 September. You can find the papers for the meeting five days before here. You can also watch the meeting live here.
There was also an update on the process to develop our Partnership’s Five Year Plan (expected to be published at the end of the year). It’s very important that this is our Plan and one that sets out our ambitions and aspirations with and for communities.
Leaders also discussed the Interim NHS People Plan which emphasised the need to promote positive cultures, build compassionate and engaging leaders and make the NHS an agile, inclusive and a modern employer so we can attract and retain the workforce. Our Partnership aims to take a greater leadership role in workforce planning, as outlined in the NHS People Plan. Brendan Brown, CEO for Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Responsible Officer for our Workforce Programme explained that the NHS is a great place to work but we require investment and partnership working in a way that has not been done before so we can realise the ambitions of our Partnership’s workforce and carers.
Matt Walsh, Chief Officer for Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group led a conversation about how we commission services in a changing environment with new purpose so together we make a greater impact on health inequalities. Comments included providers and commissioners co-creating a new way of working together with one plan and starting with the voice of the public. There was also a discussion on how we put commissioning at the heart of population health management work which helps health and care professionals identify and quantify the drivers and outcomes for addressing local population health. It has a significant role in commissioning for value.
Building Health Partnerships in Calderdale and Wakefield
For West Yorkshire and Harrogate, the aim of our collaboration with the Institute for Voluntary Action Research, through its Building Health Partnerships programme, has been to work with community and voluntary groups to improve the health of people across two specific localities, Calderdale and Wakefield. Each locality has focussed on a different initiative but they both emphasise the importance of prevention and self-care. Read more on the Partnership’s website here.