Posted on: 25 March 2022
This week’s leadership message comes in the form of a video blog from Rob Webster, CEO-Designate for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership. There is also a blog from Dr Sara Munro, CEO for Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Sara is also the CEO Lead for the Partnership’s Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme.
Hello, my name is Sara.
I’m sure like me, you are shocked and saddened to witness the distressing scenes emerging from Ukraine.
There is nothing new I can say that hasn’t already been said about the situation. Whether you are originally from Ukraine, have friends and family living there or have served in the armed forces, the effects can be felt far and wide. Certainly, everyone I know is distressed by this, including Russian people I’ve met living in this country, who are able to access truthful accounts of the invasion and who are equally deserving of our support and compassion.
In line with our values, our natural reaction is that we want to help. The best thing we can do is to seek out the established organisations and charities who are already fully engaged on the ground making sure aid and supplies reach the right people. At a national level, efforts are being coordinated to provide medical care and treatment.
There are also support networks available for people who are affected. For example, if you or someone you know is a veteran and is struggling with their mental health and wellbeing, there is a range of dedicated support available as part of Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service. The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain has branches in Keighley, Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford and Leeds. Please share with people who may need support.
In terms of our own work as a Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism (MHLDA) Programme, we were already seeing increased demand for mental health services before the conflict and the war will surely add to that.
For people who work and volunteer in the West Yorkshire health and care system, the Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub offers a range of resources, including family therapy and access to one-to-one therapy that can help you and the people in your team. I urge you to take advantage of this service if you’re experiencing feelings that you are finding difficult to cope with.
A further effect of this dreadful war will be to push up the cost of living even more – petrol prices are volatile and adding a big burden to hard-pressed households, energy costs are set to rise from 1 April and food prices are creeping up, with some goods in short supply. Further afield, there are concerns about the supply of grain to the global south, which could result in major problems for people in some of the world’s poorest countries.
At our West Yorkshire sector leads meeting this week we discussed the concerns about rising fuel and energy costs for our workforce. We have been advised discussions are taking place at a national level with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), unions and relevant government departments and to await the outcomes of those. In the meantime, I know many of our organisations can provide staff with access to other benefits to help reduce costs and, in some instances, financial advice and guidance. So do check in with your organisation if this would be of help to you. Our West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub is also working with partners to make a whole raft of financial support resources available soon.
Our clinical services continue to work extremely hard to deliver safe and effective care during these ongoing difficult times. Our system has been through a tough period of high staff unavailability which thankfully is now improving. However, the backlog and waiting times in many of our services are a real challenge. Whilst the focus is often on acute care waiting lists, we are particularly concerned about long waits in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autistic Diagnostic Services, and we have commissioned some further work on these services through the MHLDA Programme Board to help develop longer term solutions.
As we look ahead to World Autism Acceptance Week next week, and Autism Awareness Month throughout April, we welcome some good news. Leeds autism service is now a research site for the STRATA trial looking at treatment for anxiety in adult autism. Anxiety is common in autistic adults, and many find it to be very disabling. This is hugely important as until now there has been very little good quality evidence on effective treatments for mental health problems in autism - better research into interventions for mental health conditions in people with autism was recently identified as the “number one priority” by autistic people and other stakeholders. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) identified this area as a major gap in the evidence and funded this study. Our Programme is working hard to tackle the challenges of autism and a “deep dive” is planned for this spring and summer. You can find out more about our work in this field on the Partnership website.
And finally, Covid-19 of course is still with us. It’s not making many headlines right now because of other world events but as restrictions have relaxed, community transmission has increased, our acute trusts are admitting more people and we continue to manage outbreaks within inpatient services in mental health, acute and care home setting. Getting vaccinated, continuing to test yourself and taking sensible precautions are still necessary and are part of our way of “living with Covid”, at least for now!
What else has been happening this week?
National Day of Reflection
West Yorkshire joined the rest of the country on Wednesday to remember those we have lost to COVID-19, reflect on the sacrifices made, thank the heroes and communities of the pandemic, and celebrate the togetherness and kindness throughout.
You can now watch this heart-warming and emotional film on Kirklees Council’s YouTube channel
Don’t ‘leave a gap’ in our workforce
During the pandemic, reports of abuse directed at doctors’ surgery staff and community pharmacy teams across West Yorkshire have increased. In response, our Partnership has launched a new insight driven campaign called ‘leaving a gap’ to help people think about the consequences of abusive behaviour. Co-produced with staff and patients, the campaign recognises that services are extremely busy, and it can be frustrating for people trying to access care.
The campaign reminds people we’re all here to help each other and the importance of all round understanding and kindness. A series of striking images created as part of the campaign aim to make people think about the gap that will be left if staff leave their role due to abuse.
This comes following an unprecedented level of need for advice and appointments in primary care. There has been a 15% increase in demand since the same time two years ago with community pharmacies managing increasing numbers of people, many GP practices receiving more than 1000 telephone calls every day, alongside delivering lifesaving flu and COVID-19 vaccines.
Abuse directed at GP practices and community pharmacy teams means receptionist and counter staff deal with most of the insults and threats. As a vital part of the health care team, they are skilled in helping care for people and treating all information confidentially. They ask questions to direct people to the best support and are trying to help.
You can find out more at: www.
The Fellowship
On Monday we saw the culmination of hard work, talent and determination across our Partnership with the first cohort of our Fellowship for ethnic minority colleagues completing the initial stage of their journey.
Few highlights from our fellowship celebrations @BrendanBrown20 @joa1dav @shutcake @WYpartnership @theresepatten13 @frankswinton @Lucy_Cole_NHS pic.twitter.com/VA7qCHFbV9
— Ash Alom (@ashalom2) March 21, 2022
"Don't think what, think why" - reflections on the The Fellowship programme from John Ebo
Hello, my name is John.
I am honoured to be an alumnus and bona fide fellow of the HSJ System Leadership Initiative of the Year. I am a systems leader, aspiring director appointment in waiting, made ready by this programme. The immediate future is seriously bright.
Let me tell you my story.
As a first-generation immigrant of Nigerian heritage of Yoruba extraction; fourth son of seven children; 19 years in Local Authority, Head of Service at Leeds City Council; previous Non-Executive Director of St. Gemma’s Hospice, with private sector management experience, I have a unique and authentic leadership skill set, a lived experience and leadership lens through which complex challenges can be viewed, refracted, and deciphered.
The Partnership’s Fellowship programme takes people like me and recognises the talent and ambition. It then provides the wrap around needed to lead in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity - you’ve heard that before, right? Of course you have. It describes our health and care environment and the wicked issues that we must face head on. This is what made me apply to join the fellowship. The stretch! and there’s plenty of it. I was and I am ambitious to make a difference in public service, and I also want to get on.
Over 14 months of the programme, I’ve led strategic work teasing out what it means for our Partnership to be an anchor institution. I’ve been trusted to lead this mission, collaborate and deliver how we take this rhetoric forward. I’ve formed and directed teams across public health, social care, and health care to deliver better outcomes for older people. I’ve supported activity and leadership of our climate change ambition as a clear health emergency. I’ve worked with leaders across our region as a member of the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Board. I’ve contributed to the region’s Health Tech Leadership Forum, collaborating on embedding public health priorities into our regional medtech strategy.
Now don’t tell me that did not excite you. It did me.
And now? I am about to take on a new leadership challenge on inclusivity over the next 12 months for my substantive employer, Leeds City Council. This prospect makes my heart sing, from Leeds all the way to Lagos. Our Partnership does not stand around and admire the problem. We sort it. So, if you are thinking of your leadership journey, don’t play at the margins. Get stuck in, but it’s no free ride. The ambition? diversity of leadership, leading to diversity of thought, leading to improved outcomes for the people we serve across our places.
…and I haven’t told you the best bit. Values. The Partnership’s fellowship journey digs deep into you, to enable intrinsic understanding of WHY. I now know that driven by WHY, the WHAT naturally follows. And what is my WHY?…..well, I belong to something bigger than myself. I am guided by the strongest desire to improve health inequalities, and I am surrounded by colleagues who passionately believe in the same common purpose.
So… “Don’t think WHAT, think WHY”.
John Ebo, Associate Director for Improving Population Health
The Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) – Bridging the Gap event
Bridging the Gap is the AHSN Network’s long-running series of events that aims to provide the latest information, insights, and guidance for healthcare industry innovators to help them work with the NHS. The latest event took place on Tuesday. It is designed with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups, scale-ups, and clinical entrepreneurs in mind. The aim is to give colleagues a better understanding of how the AHSN Network, and our national and regional partners can support their development and growth to ensure that their innovations are market ready and help them navigate the complexities of working with the NHS.
This edition of the Bridging the Gap focused on the vital role digital innovation can play in the NHS's post-pandemic recovery and brought together colleagues from across the AHSN Network and health and care system to guide, support and advise innovators. Rob Webster, our Partnership CEO-Designate was a guest speaker.
Spring booster
People aged 75 years and over, care home residents and people with weakened immune systems are now being offered their Spring COVID-19 booster. This follows the recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that an extra dose should be offered to these groups to make sure those at greatest risk continue to have high levels of protection against COVID-19.
People who are eligible for an extra booster will be contacted by the NHS when it is their turn with details of how to make an appointment. People are being prioritised according to when they had their previous booster and by clinical need so please wait to hear and do not contact their GP practice or other NHS services. Everyone who is eligible will be contacted between 21 March and early Summer, depending on when they had their last booster.
Once invited, people will be able to book an appointment at a convenient vaccination centre. Some people may also be contacted by their GP practice and offered an appointment but not all GP services are offering this service so should please only contact their GP about a spring booster if they receive an invitation.
People who haven’t had their previous booster can visit https://
West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care System Wide Inspection: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The CQC is undertaking a coordinated inspection of several services in West Yorkshire during April / May 2022 to understand the patient experience and quality of care delivered across urgent and emergency care. Providers will come from a range of different services and may include adult social care, hospital core services such as emergency departments, 999, NHS111, GPs, out-of-hours services, dentists, and community services.
The inspections of registered services will be undertaken within the CQC’s existing inspection framework using their current methodologies and reporting processes. This includes whether the inspection will be announced or unannounced. Inspections will be data and intelligence-led, based on patient feedback or as part of the CQC’s planned activity.
The CQC will work with other inspection teams to produce a high-level report of system-wide findings which will be shared with our Partnership by the end of May, with an opportunity to provide feedback on the report prior to publication.
This approach is relatively new for the CQC as they test approaches for system-based inspection. Further information about the inspection methodology can be found at, Urgent and emergency care system wide inspections | Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk). This includes links to published reports. It is anticipated the West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care Programme Board will lead on co-ordinating a response to system wide findings.
VCSE Power
Our Partnership will launch an online event to celebrate the work of their partners in the voluntary community social enterprise sector (VCSE) from Monday 28 March to the 1 April.
There are an estimated 12,000 registered and unregistered VCSE organisations across West Yorkshire employing around 29,700 full time equalivant staff who work 49 million hours every year. Add to this the 8.7 million hours that the 121,000 residents who volunteer regularly contribute and you get a sense of the scale.
Throughout the VCSE Power week, a wide range of resources from videos, podcasts, blogs, case studies and infographics will be freely available to share and celebrate the diverse and often life changing work of our voluntary and community organisations in West Yorkshire.
Hilary Thompson, our Partnership’s Harnessing the Power of Communities Lead said: ‘We want to recognise the amazing work of our VCSE partners and the contribution they make day in day out to the lives of so many. Please browse, get in touch with the organisations directly and use these free resources to learn new ideas and share widely’.
With a focus on a specific theme with one from each of the five local places which make up West Yorkshire (Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield) the week-long event will cover:
- Engaging with marginalised communities in Bradford District and Craven
- Co-designing work with Calderdale communities around social prescribing and personalised care
- Early help and what is happening in Kirklees
- The win – win of volunteering in Leeds
- The VCSE as specialist provider hosted by Wakefield.
You can access the free online VCSE Power event from Monday 28 March at https://
Chairs and Leaders Reference Group
Chairs of NHS Trusts and Leaders of Councils meet on Friday 25 March (today). They will discuss the Partnership’s five-year plan, which we will be coproducing over the coming months. They will also discuss local place governance arrangements (Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield District) and finance.
Digitising social care learn and share
Around 25 colleagues, including local authority digital leads, clinical commissioning group colleagues and care providers, joined our digital share and learn session on Monday, 21 March to find out more about initiatives being carried out across West Yorkshire around digitising social care. A recording from the event is now available. At the event:
- Emma Harris, Assistant Director for Digitising Social Care, NHS England provided a national overview focusing on using technology to improve the quality of people's lives, and the quality of care they receive
- Joe Hazell, Project Leader at Leeds City Council talked about the adoption and acceleration of digital social care records focusing on an outline business case and a summary of the digital assessment findings
- Chris Porter, Service Development Manager at Kirklees Council presented on the shape of digital readiness in care organisations in Kirklees
Next steps are to build on the evidence, start the conversation locally, look at what’s possible at place level while exploiting regional opportunities and working in partnership to ensure we continually improve the way we deliver health and care.
Teamwork drives transformation at Calderdale care home
A Calderdale care home has been praised for providing a high-quality place to live and be supported. Positive feedback from residents and families about Bridge House Care Home in Brighouse, such as “safe”, “caring”, “comfortable”, “friendly” and “helpful”, was highlighted in a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after it rated the home as ‘Good’ in January 2022.
This rating – the second highest that the CQC can give – means the service is performing well and meeting expectations, and was awarded just five months after the care home had been rated ‘Inadequate’ in August 2021. The devastating impact of COVID-19 meant that urgent action was needed to address key issues at the home, including care and treatment, staffing and governance.
This impressive turnaround is thanks to many positive changes being made at the home, driven by a strong partnership approach.
Calderdale Council, NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the care home provider, Fisher Care Group, worked together to develop an extensive action plan to bring about immediate improvements and ensure that all residents were safely cared for. Work included daily visits to the home by the Council and the CCG for several weeks; weekly quality assurance meetings; and the appointment of additional senior managers, nursing staff and a dedicated clinical lead at the care home. This team worked effectively in partnership with the Council and the CCG and achieved significant improvements to the service over a very short time period.