Posted on: 3 July 2020
What else has been happening this week?
Partnership launches review into understanding the impact of racial inequalities across area
Our Partnership has commissioned an independent review into the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities and support needed for Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and staff.
The review sessions will be chaired by Professor Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, a leading figure in national health and care policy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought health and racial inequalities into even sharper focus than before. The review will build on the report findings published by Public Health England on Tuesday 2 June regarding the disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19, as well as learning from the experience of its own partners. It aims to strengthen understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities and staff, review and accelerate existing work on health inequalities. It will also support our Partnership to build a more effective health and care system which responds to these challenges better than before.
The work will complete in the autumn with an independent report published setting out the next steps.
First patients treated at Pontefract Hospital cancer centre
The first people requiring inpatient surgery for cancer have been treated at a centre which has been created at Pontefract Hospital to enable people to receive care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance has been working with hospital trusts across the region to develop arrangements for people who are referred for tests for suspected cancer, or whose condition could deteriorate if treatment was delayed, to be seen at a hospital where the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus is kept to the absolute minimum.
A restricted access zone within Pontefract hospital came into operation on 8 June will mainly provide a service for the 550,000 citizens of Wakefield district and North Kirklees.
Careful zoning of the site has enabled the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Pontefract Hospital, to successfully create a centre which is exclusively for patients who have had a negative test for COVID-19 following a period of self-isolation.
To keep the risk of staff or patients being exposed to COVID-19 to an absolute minimum, all patients attending the cancer centre for appointments or surgery and anyone who lives with them is required to self-isolate for 14 days and be tested in line with clinical guidance. You can read more here.
Test, Trace and Isolate Programme
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Covid-19 Test, Trace and Isolate Programme met on Thursday. The programme includes colleagues from Public Health England, public health directors / colleagues from councils, NHS England, primary care and clinical commissioning groups.
The senior responsible officer for the programme is Martin Barkley, CEO for Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Anthony Kealy, Locality Director, West Yorkshire and Harrogate, NHS England and NHS Improvement (North East and Yorkshire).Outbreak, prevention, control plans have been published this week by councils.
The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Programme Group
The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Programme Group met on Monday 29 June. Chaired by Chris Slater, Associate Director, Commercial and Procurement, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, in the absence of Mel Pickup who normally chairs the meeting. The purpose of the group is to ensure PPE supply chain arrangements are in place to maintain, manage and forecast need. The group includes colleagues from across the Partnership, including clinicians, procurement /supply specialists and representation from West Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) and NHS England. The work also covers primary care, smaller healthcare providers and new representatives will be joining the group. Clinical reference and procurement sub-groups support the programme.
Two billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) have now been delivered to the frontline since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. Amid unprecedented global pressures on supply chains, 341 million masks, 313 million aprons, 4 million gowns and 1.1 billion gloves have been delivered to frontline workers thanks to the efforts of government, local authorities, NHS, industry and the armed forces to massively scale-up distribution networks.
The first Clinical Reference Group meeting of the group is due to take place soon.
Data has been provided by each of the six acute Trusts on pre-COVID-19 ‘business as usual’, peak COVID-19 and estimated future ‘new normal’ PPE usage volumes. The data is being analysed to help identify future gaps. The next meeting is on the 10 July 2020.
Improving planned care for West Yorkshire and Harrogate
Our approach to improving planned care across West Yorkshire and Harrogate has evolved with the formation of a new Planned Care Transformation Board which met for the first time on 12 June via Microsoft Teams.
This new Board brings together the Partnership’s Improving Planned Care Programme and the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT) Elective Surgery Programme. It also incorporates system performance management and the WYAAT Transforming Outpatients Programme into its single governance structure.
The Board, and the work it will co-ordinate and oversee, brings a single approach to the delivery of planned care transformation in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. It allows us to bring together and align existing and future work, avoid duplication, work collaboratively and make the best use of the resources, facilities and capacity we have across the system.
Jo Webster, Chief Officer of Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group and Steve Russell, Chief Executive at Harrogate and District Trust, are the Improving Planned Care Programme’s new senior responsible officers. They are joined on the Programme Board by around 40 other members representing primary care, secondary care, commissioning, public health, patient groups and other stakeholders.
At its first meeting, co-chaired by Jo and Steve, the Board discussed the impact of Covid-19 and how, whilst it has been an incredibly difficult time, it has given us the opportunity to work differently, often without barriers, to do the best we can as a system in an emergency.
The importance of holding on to this way of working, and to some of the innovations and positives that have come out of the crisis, including the increased use of digital technologies, better connectivity, self-care, prevention and invaluable community support, was agreed by all members.
Members also highlighted that people are telling us how they have managed health conditions during Covid-19 and agreed that we need to tap into that insight, particularly in relation to self-care, conservative management of conditions and prevention. In addition to knowing how people have responded to Covid-19, we also need to know what people want now, to help shape priorities and approaches as we move forward. Engagement with partner colleagues, patient groups and other stakeholders will take place before these priorities are agreed, and approaches are put in place.
Integrated urgent emergency care reset
Following the Yorkshire and Humber ‘reset’ for integrated urgent care after the Covid-19 pandemic, there is now an opportunity to ‘lock in’ beneficial changes that have been brought about in recent weeks. This includes enhanced local system working; strong clinical leadership; flexible and remote working where appropriate; and rapid scaling of new technology-enabled service delivery options such as digital consultations.
Further to this The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has highlighted that emergency departments must not become crowded ever again, emergency care must be designed to look after people safely and must be safe workplaces for staff. If these aims are to be achieved, we must adopt a new way of managing the care people receive within the urgent care system and we must be clear with the public on how to access services and how they can help. To help us embed these ‘ways of working’ there is support for a single Yorkshire and Humber Strategy, aligned to the national and regional approach to ‘Talk before you walk’, for integrated urgent and emergency care with a focus upon telephone/on-line triage via 111/999/general practice and a pre bookable model of care, wherever appropriate.
This collaborative piece of work will require the three integrated care systems (West Yorkshire and Harrogate, Humber, Coast and Vale & South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw), Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) and NHS England to work together on an ambition for a single, ‘one voice’ approach. This piece of work is still in the early stages and we will keep you updated as it develops
People advised to stay alert as night-time economy opens this weekend
Our public health colleagues are working with hospitality businesses to support them as the lockdown rules around pubs and restaurants ease this weekend. The night-time economy can have major impacts on the health and well-being of the public with the known effects of anti-social behaviour and other behaviours such as substance and alcohol misuse, drink-driving and consequent admissions to A&E units, and the spread of coronavirus.
Social distancing remains critical to containing the spread of coronavirus particularly for vulnerable people and customers will find that this weekend licensed premises will not be operating “business as usual” - most will be open shorter hours than normal and some will not open at all at this stage. Adjustments will have been made to ensure safety for staff and customers, including signs and instructions put in place to help people understand the new environment. While arrangements will vary across West Yorkshire and Harrogate, licensing enforcement teams will be on the streets in a number of places over the weekend, working with businesses to help them keep within the rules, and community service providers for people with alcohol and drug misuse problems are standing ready to help anyone in need of support.
Councils are working closely with police colleagues to keep people safe and maintain social distancing –there will be a higher and more visible police presence on the streets across the area this weekend and many venues will have increased their own security support. Most businesses will be operating at only 25% of capacity and people can expect to be turned away from venues that cannot accommodate them. Organisations in the sector are using their social media platforms to share information about their individual businesses, so customers are advised to check these details and plan their night out accordingly.
NHS England / NHS Improvement Task and Finish Group
The disproportionate impact on people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, people living in areas of high deprivation and inclusion health groups shows starkly the health inequalities which persist in England today. The NHS Long-Term Plan commits the NHS to addressing health inequalities and much excellent work is underway already, particularly focused on medium and long-term action. Progress needs to be accelerated; responding to and recovering from COVID calls for more focused, additional and immediate actions.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have therefore established a Task and Finish Group, composed of a range of system leaders and voluntary sector partners, to focus on what specific, measurable actions should be taken by the NHS in the next few months. The Group will take account of feedback and ideas already received from BAME organisations, the VCSE sector, local systems and others.
This work is led by the NHS England Chief People Officer. The Group will be chaired by Owen Williams OBE, Chief Executive of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
Third Sector Resilience: Before and during COVID-19
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership's Harnessing the Power of Communities Programme have published their latest report, titled ‘Third Sector Resilience: Before and during COVID-19’.
Working closely with over 300 voluntary and community organisations across Bradford district and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, the report sets out the impact of COVID-19 on the sector and the communities they support. A life line too many of the 2.7million people living across the area; community groups, charities and voluntary organisations have been delivering vital services for years, including the renewed focus in recent months to those in need of vital help, including the 111,000 people who are shielding.
Building on the long term work of the VCS across communities, the report highlights that for many charities and community organisations their future is now uncertain. Financially they are under pressure and for many digital capacity is a barrier to their work.
Over 300 VCS organisations employing over 7000 members of staff and thousands of volunteers, responded to the WY&H survey. Of these organisations 55% do not expect to be financially sustainable beyond the end of 2020. Many of the organisations who took part in the survey also cited digital exclusion as a challenge in their work, impacting on their ability to reach some of the most at risk and isolated communities. Positives highlighted in the report include the fast tracking and flexibility of service commissioning and delivery between health, local authorities and the VCS, meaning services can respond quickly and everyone works together to make things happen at greater pace.
The Partnership has also enabled its priority programmes of work to align funding for VCS provider collaboration, for example the new Grief and Loss Support Service and ‘Keeping people with a learning disability or autism connected to vital support during Covid-19’. £450,000 of funds has also been made available to voluntary and community organisations to help tackle the impact on people’s health affected by Covid-19, with funds being announced also to support Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Communities.
You can read the resilience report here.
Health and Care Champions
With the backing of 18 partner organisations, the Health and Care Champions project work began in Spring 2019. The project was awarded to Bradford Talking Media (BTM) to develop, manage and deliver across West Yorkshire and Harrogate. The initial 12 month contract ends in July 2020.
The project’s purpose is to enable people with learning disabilities to feel supported in contributing to the development and implementation of plans that affect their health and social care – “nothing about me, without me”.
This involves:
- The Champions understanding their role, feeling confident and well-prepared to be able to give insight on areas of concern for the Partnership.
- Talking to other people with learning disabilities so views and experiences can be heard from as many people as possible. We do this by offering training, group role play, discussions about areas of concern to them, involving them in conversations about improvement and asking them about their experiences of the care and support they receive.
- Working with partners and the people who lead on West Yorkshire and Harrogate programme priorities on a range of health and care issues, to help improve access, services and experience of care for people with learning disabilities. The group’s unique expertise, lived experience and ability inputs to the wider WY&H project across all of our places, making a valuable contribution that can be called upon by our partners in the system. The project’s initial 12 month period has now been extended for a further six months and we have prepared a report detailing the work carried out so far, and the difference the project has been making here.
