Posted on: 2 September 2022
This week’s leadership message comes from the West Yorkshire Hospice Collaborative which includes:
Children’s hospices
- Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice www.forgetmenotchild.co.uk
- Martin House Hospice www.MartinHouse.org.uk
Both of our children’s hospices operate across the whole of West Yorkshire and Martin House operate in Harrogate too.
Adult hospices
- Marie Curie (Bradford) Marie Curie Hospice, Bradford
- Overgate Hospice (Calderdale) www.overgatehospice.org.uk
- St Gemma’s Hospice (Leeds) www.st-gemma.co.uk
- St Michael’s (Harrogate) www.saintmichaelshospice.org
- Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice (Oxenhope) www.sueryder.org
- Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice (Leeds) www.sueryder.org
- The Kirkwood Support Life(Kirklees) www.thekirkwood.org.uk
- The Prince of Wales Hospice (Pontefract) www.pwh.org.uk
- Wakefield Hospice (Wakefield) www.wakefieldhospice.org
Hello colleagues,
The West Yorkshire Hospice collaborative is made up of 10 hospices that serve the population of West Yorkshire. We are committed to working collaboratively so that the people of West Yorkshire can access the very best palliative & end of life care (PEoLC) now and into the future.
The West Yorkshire Hospice Collaborative is really pleased to be a key partner in our new Integrated Care Board (ICB). Like the ICB we too are creating networks of care and support opportunities which include both acute and preventative interventions to protect and maintain the health and wellbeing of local populations. We are really pleased to be playing our part in this and admire the ambition and aspiration that we are part of.
We have been working together for some time now, having been born out of a mutual support network at the beginning of the pandemic and have now been able to set out what we intend to do together for local people.
- Palliative and End of Life Care has been a postcode lottery for too long. We welcome the forthcoming Health and Care Bill that will establish a legal right to palliative and end of life care in England.
- There is an opportunity for West Yorkshire to be at the forefront of national practice so that everyone in the region can access high quality, end of life care in the setting of their choosing. We are ready to play our part in improving quality, access, and integration of care across the region.
- It is widely recognised that a sustainable hospice system is critical to improving palliative and end of life care; when hospices work in a seamless way with the NHS and Palliative and End of Life Care system, it reduces unnecessary hospital admissions and enables patients to be discharged home or to the setting of their choice.
You can find out more about each hospice in our pen portraits document and our ambition for our region is outlined in our manifesto. Please do take the opportunity to understand a little more about your local adult hospice and the children’s hospices that operate across the whole region.
We would be delighted to hear from anyone wanting to get involved in the delivery of our manifesto as we work with you to respond to the legislation, build our services and continue to integrate with the wider system.
The pandemic helped the wider system to see the contribution hospices make to the palliative and end of life care agenda, but we all do so much more than that. You could see us as micro-commissioners of services integrating acute and preventative interventions around the families, we support in a holistic way that delivers very real outcomes inside and outside of the patient silo. You could see us as commissioners of substantial pieces of work, using our own generated funds to support thousands of patients who would otherwise use up scarce NHS resources. You could see us as pioneers, developing new services in communities who are often marginalised and who find services hard to access.
However, you see us, we want to work with you to improve services to local people. If you would like to talk further, please contact Luen Thompson luen.
Have a good weekend all
What else has been happening this week?
Medicines safety
When medicines are not taken or used properly, it can lead to poor and worsening health and wellbeing. It’s a sad fact that medication harm accounts for 50% of the overall preventable harm in medical care.
To raise awareness of this, ‘Medication Safety’ is the theme of this year’s World Patient Safety Day on Saturday 17 September. Ahead of this important day, and to help support patients and families to be actively involved in the safe use of medicines, we’re launching a campaign to help reduce medication harm across West Yorkshire.
A dedicated page on the website offers information and guidance on medicines safety. This includes guidance on:
- taking medicines safely and correctly
- medicines compliance aids
- reporting adverse drug reactions
- medicines and hospitals
- fake medicines and medical devices.
The medicines safety page also has an introduction and link to ‘Me and My Medicines’, a local initiative to help people raise any concerns they may have, and support to help them use their medicines better.
In addition, a number of podcasts are being produced covering different aspects of medicines safety. The following two episodes are available to listen to now, and to share:
Medicines compliance aids. In this episode, Claire Kilburn, Lynne Precious and Ruth Buchan talk about medicines compliance aids. They explain what medicines compliance aids are, and why there are often better options to help people manage their medicines.
Me and My Medicines. In this episode, Graham Prestwich, creator of Me and My Medicines, talks about ways that people can become more involved in the effective and safe use of their medicines.
Please look out for details of further episodes over the coming weeks as we continue to promote key messages around medicines safety.
The future of medicines safety research online workshop
To mark World Patient Safety Day 2022, the University of Bradford Medicines Optimisation Research Group is hosting an online workshop to inform the future of medicines safety research in our region. During the workshop you will be invited to put forward your priorities for research. We will hear from research teams who have developed interventions in areas such as care transitions, deprescribing and pharmacogenomics, and from clinical staff about the medication safety problems they currently face in practice. Our intention is that the workshop will stimulate new collaborations and research activity and we can jointly plan how ideas generated can be put into action.
Who is the event for?
- Clinical and non-clinical staff with roles in medicines management
- Patient safety and health services researchers
- Patient, carer and public representatives.
The event takes place on Monday 19 September from 11am -12.30pm, to register please use this Eventbrite link
Healthwatch report on people and communities’ feedback
As part of the refresh of our five-year strategy, we asked Healthwatch to produce a report on the main concerns people and communities are facing. The report is part of our strategy engagement approach, and we will also be sharing it widely as part of future development work. You can read the Healthwatch report on our website.
Bringing Community Diagnostic Centres to West Yorkshire
There is a rising demand for diagnostic services in West Yorkshire. The creation of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) to alleviate pressure on existing NHS facilities was recommended following Professor Sir Mike Richards’ review of NHS diagnostics capacity.
CDCs will improve access and reduce delays for people who need an investigative test. The ambition for these new settings is to separate emergency and urgent diagnostics (delivered within hospital settings) from planned tests by delivering these closer to people’s homes in community 'one-stop-shop' settings.
CDCs will be accessible for all to deliver a large range of diagnostic tests, including imaging (such as x-ray, ultrasound, CT, and MRI), pathology (such as phlebotomy) and physiological measurement tests.
Initial plans following local analysis are underway for CDCs West Yorkshire, and more work is taking place. The centres will be driven and designed to meet local place needs. Business cases are being developed, and the intention is to deliver ‘hub-and-spoke’ models across our system. The plans are for several larger centres (or hubs) across West Yorkshire, supported by a number of smaller centres (or spokes) spread across the region supported by capital and revenue investment for at least the next three years. You can find out more on the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT) webpages.
The Bread-and-Butter Thing (TBBT)
The Bread-and-Butter Thing (TBBT) is one of the UK’s leading community food organisations and has brought its innovative affordable food service to Kirklees. Working in partnership with Kirklees Council, Third Sector Leaders, and with support from key funder, Cummins Turbo Technologies Ltd, a further two hubs are opening making a total of five hubs across the district.
The fourth hub will open at Howden Clough on Wednesday 14 September 2022 and the fifth will open at Dewsbury Moor very soon. The hubs will provide access to low cost, nutritious food, as well as access to wraparound services offering advice and support on finances, employment, and health.
Members of The Bread-and-Butter Thing can get shopping bags filled with a minimum of £35 worth of quality nutritious food for just £7.50.
Each week members access three bags of produce including fresh fruit and veg, chilled goods, as well as cupboard staples such as pasta and cereal. Families can use their NHS healthy start vouchers, and, in support of period poverty, low-cost period products will also be available.
If you would like to help by volunteering at one of the new hubs you can find out more and get in touch through the website www.breadandbutterthing.org.
If you are worried about rising household costs, help is available. For advice or support with energy bills, food bills and making sure you’re claiming all you’re entitled to, visit: www.kirklees.gov.uk/cost-of-living.
Research suggests that white applicants are 2.5 times more likely to get hired than their non-white counterparts
At West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, we recognise strength in our diversity and work to reduce inequalities and improve these statistics. Therefore we have launched the Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit
The Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit is a compilation of resources to help you to create an inclusive recruitment process in your organisation. Whether you are a small organisation or large; whether you are looking to overhaul your recruitment processes, or simply looking for some additional resources and tips around recruitment training, there is something in the Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit for you.
We’ve taken best practice and other great examples from organisations in the partnership, and compiled them all in one place, creating an easily accessible pool of resources that you can choose from. Challenge your thinking and take a look at our resources today.
Some feedback we have received so far:
“I used the Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit for some recruitment within my team and I could just tell the difference it made. I would never have thought to send the questions out before I read the toolkit, but it made such an improvement to the quality of answers we got at interview! I will definitely be using the toolkit again!”
If you’d like any help, training or just want to talk through recruitment processes at your organisation, please contact the System Leadership and Development team at wyicb-wak.
New Deputy Medical Director for our NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB)
We’re delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Sohail Abbas from Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership as the new Deputy Medical Director for our NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). Sohail will work within the ICB’s Clinical and Professional Directorate with myself as Medical Director for the ICB, Beverley Geary our Director of Nursing and alongside other colleagues to deliver our statutory responsibilities around ensuring safe and high quality care.
In doing so, Sohail will be a critical ally in delivering the priorities of the directorate - as a senior leader he will also provide support across our ICB and Partnership, including to a range of clinical leaders and professional networks.
Sohail brings with him a wealth of experience, including being Chair of the Partnership’s Health Inequalities Network and also the Health Inequality Academy. This underpins his ability to make this a successful appointment and most importantly one which upholds our Partnership values to improve care for all.
Sohail has worked for the NHS since 2003. This includes previously working as the Clinical Director of Community Services in Salford Royal Foundation Trust and Clinical Chair of Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group. He is a GP partner in Bradford City and a GP with special interest in diabetes. As the Chair of the Partnership’s Health Inequalities Network, Sohail is passionate about system working and harnessing the strength of communities to reduce health inequalities and improve the health and wellbeing of people living in West Yorkshire.