Posted on: 26 May 2022
Hello, our names are Caroline and Sarah
We are part of the West Yorkshire Allied Health Professional (AHP) Faculty. Our purpose is to play a key role in helping shape the next generation of AHPs by coordinating activities to support their supply, education, and training, and to maintain the development of our current workforce. Our aim is to facilitate AHP collaboration across the West Yorkshire region sharing ideas and resources. We believe this collaboration has never been more vital in these challenging times.
One of our main areas of focus within the West Yorkshire Faculty has been equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Covid-19 shone a light on health inequalities and brought the need for change into sharp focus. Alongside this, it is well documented that workforce should reflect the diverse communities we serve, and a diverse and inclusive workforce can help us to develop ways of thinking, lead improvement and innovation, in addition to influencing patient care and outcomes.
To enable us to do this well we initially evaluated the Workforce, Race, Equality Standard (WRES) data, along with conducting focus groups and a regional questionnaire with AHP staff and students from diverse backgrounds. The findings from this research have been eye opening and provided information and understanding of the issues and barriers along the AHP career pathway.
We knew we needed to act on this so we created a West Yorkshire EDI and promotion of AHP subgroup with representatives from across the region from primary care, community services, mental health services, local authorities, and higher educational institutes recognising the value system working could bring to this topic.
We have created the Aspiring Allies website - www.
We have also created a workforce ambassador network, a best practice guide to inclusive recruitment, an interfaith calendar, and a Ramadan and diet resource which has been shared earlier this year prior to Ramadan.
There is of course always more that can be done, and we are currently developing the Aspiring Allies social media campaign alongside a virtual work-based learning programme and considering the needs of AHP staff with disabilities and long-term conditions and those from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ)+ community. We are always open to discussion about how we can further develop the AHP Faculty, influence our priorities regarding education and workforce and our system working to ensure the workforce of today and tomorrow have the right numbers, skill, values, and behaviours, at the right time and in the right place. You can reach us on caroline.
Have a good weekend all
Caroline and Sarah
What else has been happening this week?
Community Provider Collaborative
The collaborative met last Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by Brodie Clark, Chair of Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.
The Collaborative includes representatives from across various providers of NHS community health services and representation from the Shadow NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. The Collaborative discussed the continued development of work across the Partnership on improving discharge from hospitals for people into the community, and how the Partnership can meet the national priority for the expansion of virtual wards. Members also discussed how the Collaborative can evolve a year on from its first meeting in June 2021, and how its relationship with the wider Partnership could develop in view of the new statutory arrangements from the 1 July.
Urgent and emergency care (UEC) programme board – update
The urgent and emergency care programme board met on Tuesday 18 May, chaired by Dr Adam Sheppard. Trudie Davies, Chief Operating Officer at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust provided members with an overview of the Ambulance Handover plan on a page. The core actions were for Bradford and Pinderfields Emergency Departments, as these are the two areas where improvement has been required. Performance has already improved on both sites since the initial plan on a page was submitted to NHSE/I. System actions for pre-hospital are being led by the UEC Board through its’ pre-hospital working group and the West Yorkshire (WY) wide work on discharge which is being led by the WY Discharge Executive group.
The West Yorkshire Clinical Assessment Service (CAS) continues to see a significant volume of activity across all pathways. Local Care Direct (LCD) continues to perform well with positive outcomes for the key groups of referrals via NHS 111. Some of these are dealt with directly with no further onward referrals and alternatives are being identified for those referred from NHS111 who have been recommended to attend an Emergency Department.
As part of the in-hospital workstream a workshop was held to better understand the current access into adults Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and any blocks and barriers to extending this access. The workshop was well attended by representatives from across West Yorkshire, and this enabled the formation of a definition of SDEC and an agreement on the aims of the ICS SDEC workstream.
Also formulated was a set of principles which would be achievable by April 2023, but also a set of aspirations for a five-year strategy for delivery. The paediatric workshop will be held in June 2022.
An update on the work of the WY Discharge Forum was provided. After development of the ten-point plan, a mapping exercise was undertaken to scope how these high impact priorities can be progressed with ongoing workstreams at place. The board will continue to be kept up to date with discharge developments as this links to other workstreams and priorities including those of the pre-hospital working group.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity System (WY&H LMS) programme update
The North Region Maternity Team and the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity System will be undertaking visits at each Trust during June and July 2022. The aim of the visits is to provide assurance that the seven essential and immediate actions outlined in the Ockenden Report published in December 2020 have been implemented and to provide support to Trusts who are now working towards the 15 new actions from the final Ockenden Report.
The Local Maternity System are co-ordinating the second year of the centralised recruitment process for newly qualified midwives (NQMs). Pre-application events have taken place at all Trusts and the job advertisement for newly qualified Band 5 midwives resulted in 144 applications being received. The interviews are currently being held over a three-week period.
The COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy group continues to promote the uptake of the vaccine. The group are exploring more holistic approaches when engaging with people in the community, focusing on preconception and between pregnancies in addition to promoting the COVID-19 vaccine along with other vaccines that are recommended in pregnancy.
Mental Health Learning Disabilities and Autism Partnership Board
The West Yorkshire Mental Health Learning Disabilities and Autism Partnership Board met on 16 May and discussed:
- Current work to learn from deaths of people with a Learning Disability (LeDeR) including how to bring together common themes from LeDeR and the recent Safe & Wellbeing Reviews of service users.
- Training is being developed through the Community Mental Health Transformation programme relating to cultural competence and humility, to better support staff in understanding of cultures, racial justice, wider inequalities and support better personalised conversations. A framework has been co-produced and will be circulated for wider comment.
- Progress is being made on developing a consistent Standard Operating Procedure for the West Yorkshire Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) and decisions made with all places on the use of crisis and liaison funding for 2022/23.
- Updates on Suicide Prevention work – including the refreshed strategy, new Check-In campaign aimed at men and improvements in data frequency and quality coming into local public health teams from West Yorkshire police to support Real-Time Surveillance and targeted interventions.
- Latest developments with the Complex Rehabilitation Support Team, and work on the women’s pathway – including the role of co-production.
- A desire from Bradford place colleagues to undertake a System Quality Learning Event across all partners.
Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub
Report from the Critical Incident Staff Support Pathway (CrISSP) - Building The Vision in-person event Leeds 18 May.
The Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub held a learning day in Leeds last week for people involved in and interested in the development of our Critical Incident Staff Support Pathway. Delegates heard from Professor Stephen Regel and Dr Adrian Neal, both are national and international experts in the field of post-trauma support.
The day was chaired by Dr Kerry Hinsby, Clinical Lead for the Hub, and opened by Jo Farn, Associate Director, System and Leadership Development, West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership. Workshops included an inspiring and emotional session “Minoritised Groups, trauma and the workplace” led by Dr Sharon Prince, Deputy Director for Psychological Professions and Marvina Newton, Mental Health Ethnic Inequalities Lead, Forum Central.
Materials and resources from the event will be available to view, download and share from the Hub website in due course.
Check-in with your mate suicide prevention campaign
Last week we launched the Partnership’s Check-in with your mate suicide prevention campaign. Read below two inspirational stories from Paul and Ged, about why men talking and seeking help is so important.
- Check-in with a mate: No One Wants to Be Alone by Paul Steele
- Check-in With Your Mate: Ged Savva’s Story
Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week 2022
This week is Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week and colleagues have been sharing their Healthier Hack tips for reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other health problems.
In this graphic, Jacob’s #HealthierHack tip is:
“Value the importance of asking the right questions. Ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing every so often. Keep an open mind and be honest with yourself.”
More than 220,000 people in West Yorkshire are at high risk of developing the condition. In our animation, available in English, Polish, Punjabi and Arabic you can find out more about who is at risk of type 2 diabetes and how to recognise the signs.
As a follow up from Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week and a precursor to Diabetes Week (13 to 19 June) we’ll be pitching up on 10 June outside Marks and Spencer by the wool shops in Halifax town centre. We’ll be joined there by colleagues from Diabetes UK and Reed Wellbeing – one of the providers of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.
The videos and many more resources are all available on our diabetes communications resource page set up especially for communication and other partner colleagues to use. If you struggle to access any of the resources please email: donna.
Carers Week 2022 – please support and get involved
Carers Week runs from 6 to 12 June 2022. The theme is making caring Visible, Valued and Supported. As a Partnership, we plan to increase recognition and support for approximately 400,000 unpaid carers living in our local areas of Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield District. Unpaid carers need us to do all we can to support them in the huge challenges they face every day.
We are working with caring organisations across the region to encourage unpaid carers to complete a contingency plan, ensuring plans are made for the cared for person in case of an emergency. This will be promoted alongside ‘Message in a Bottle’. An initiative created by the Lions club charity, who encourage people to share important medical information in a green and white bottle in a standard location – the fridge. Find out more on the Message in a Bottle webpage.
Our new guidance for managers will support employers at place to have supportive conversations with employees who have unpaid caring responsibilities. 1 in 7 of our workforce is a working carer (Carers UK 2019). Overall, 1 in 5 of all working carers surveyed said that if they didn’t get affordable and accessible care to support them, they would have to reduce their working hours or be at risk of giving up work altogether (Carers UK 2021). Research tells us that allowing greater flexible working and support enables working carers to balance work and care successfully (Carers UK, 2019). View the guidance document and working carer passport information area of our website.
Webinars for all staff are being held in June dedicated to supporting working carers from ethnic minorities. You can register and find out more using the Eventbrite link.
- Working Carers (Local Authority), 13 June, 10am-12 noon
- Working Carers (VCSE), 15 June, 10am -12 noon
- Working Carers (NHS/Health care organisations), 16 June, 10am-12 noon
We are also working hard for our young carers across West Yorkshire and are happy to launch the new young carers education pack, containing resources to better support young carers.
There will be videos, infographics, and resources to share on twitter throughout the campaign, and we would encourage you to like and share our work. We will be using hashtag #WYCarersWeek and the partnership’s twitter handle @WYpartnership to showcase our work.
Heard about monkeypox?
You may have heard about monkeypox in the news recently. But what is it, what are the symptoms and how can you access help and information? Monkeypox is a rare illness caused by the monkeypox virus and one of the symptoms is a rash that is sometimes confused with chickenpox. It is usually associated with travel to Central or West Africa, but cases have been occurring in England with no travel links. Monkeypox can be spread when someone comes into close contact with an infected person. The virus can enter the body through broken skin, the respiratory tract or through the eyes, nose or mouth.
If you get infected with monkeypox, it usually takes between five and 21 days for the first symptoms to appear. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. A rash can develop, often beginning on the face, then spreading to other parts of the body. The rash changes and goes through different stages - a bit like chicken pox - before finally forming a scab, which later falls off.
The virus can spread if there is close contact between people through:
- touching clothing, bedding or towels used by someone with the monkeypox rash
- touching monkeypox skin blisters or scabs
- the coughs or sneezes of a person with the monkeypox rash
Anyone with concerns that they could be infected should see a health professional but make contact with the clinic or surgery ahead of a visit. NHS 111 can also give advice.
UKHSA is investigating the recent cases in England. A notable proportion of early cases detected have been in in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. and so UKHSA is urging this community, in particular to be alert to any unusual rashes or lesions and to contact a sexual health service without delay.
UKHSA will post regular updates on gov.uk