We also have a blog from Vanessa Hails, NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, Head of Long Term Conditions and Personalisation.
Posted on: 27 July 2023
In this vlog, Tom Riordan, CEO of Leeds City Council, gives a local government perspective on the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.
Hello my name is Vanessa.
Before I talk about the team I have the pleasure of working with, I thought I’d share a little bit about myself. I have been in the NHS for nearly 25 years. I’ve worked in two acute trusts, a primary care trust (which then became a CCG), practice management, and my previous role was head of the COVID vaccine programme for South Yorkshire.
When I left university I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I applied for lots of jobs and joined a software company. It soon became clear this wasn’t the right fit for me. I didn’t finish work with any kind of job satisfaction or a feeling that I’d made any significant contribution to the world. I saw an advert for a job within the NHS, applied and was successful and this was the start of my NHS career. I haven’t looked back - I’d found my calling and the place I wanted to be.
I’m passionate about healthcare and the NHS and love the quote by Thomas Carlyle, ‘he who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything’. I believe we are so fortunate to have the NHS and I’m incredibly proud that I’m a part of it. I have a lot to thank the NHS for, not only the care that’s been provided to myself and my loved ones but my oldest and dearest friend I met through work.
I joined West Yorkshire ICB in March this year. The aim of the long term conditions and personalisation team is to support people in West Yorkshire to live well, age well and have a good death. The NHS define a long term condition ‘as a condition that cannot at present be cured but can be controlled by medication and therapies.’ These conditions require ongoing management over a period of years. We work to try and reduce the number of people developing long term conditions and ensure the best possible care is provided for those that do. Our function has six programmes of work: stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, unpaid carers, palliative and end of life care and personalisation. Each programme of work has an action plan with reporting metrics. Our function works very closely with a number of stakeholders, including place leads, clinical leads and NHSE to name just a few.
There are two ‘golden threads’ running through our work. The first is tackling health inequalities and the second is personalisation. We work to support the ICB’s vision that everyone in West Yorkshire is able to access high quality health and care services that have been codesigned to take account of lived experiences and personalised through shared decision making. The care will be responsive to health inequalities, trauma informed and respectfully delivered, resonating with what matters most to the individual, their family and or unpaid carer.
This blog wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the amazing team that I feel privileged to be a part of. When I joined, I received an incredibly warm welcome, for which I am grateful. I see so many examples of them going ‘above and beyond’ and it’s very clear the pride that is shown in their work.
National recognition for Locala Health and Wellbeing
The latest company to be awarded the national Social Value Quality Mark® is Kirklees- based social enterprise Locala Health and Wellbeing. Locala provides community healthcare services across Kirklees, Calderdale, Bradford, and Greater Manchester.
Locala has achieved the Bronze Quality Mark, awarded by Social Value Quality Mark CIC. The Quality Mark recognises distinction in values-led business that benefits customers, communities, and the planet. It is one of the most rigorously tested standards of its kind in the UK.
Social value is about the value of good that organisations create in communities, and the impact they have on people’s lives.
Initiatives from Locala such as the hugely successful Community Fund grants programme, creative volunteering and employment initiatives, sponsorship of the Kirklees Social Enterprise Competition, and support for local foodbanks are all part of the ongoing commitment to supporting communities and delivering social value. Read more on the Locala website.
Your home your choice - Willow Court housing with care scheme, Elland, Halifax
This video is the third of four 'your home, your choice' videos to get people talking about resizing. Willow Court residents say their quality of life has improved since moving to the housing with care scheme in Halifax. Carol explains how husband Ken has got his independence back, how much happier they are since making the move and would recommend rightsizing to anyone in a similar situation to them. Julie’s confidence has been given a much needed boost and with knit and natter groups, art classes, bingo, singing and quizzes there’s plenty of opportunities to socialise.
Willow Court housing with care scheme is open to people aged 60 and over, are in the Calderdale area and who have an assessed need for care or support. To find out more about rightsizing and support in your area of West Yorkshire visit yourhome- yourchoice.co.uk
Building a trauma informed culture
In this two-minute video below, trainer Kathryn Hodgson and Anna Turner (Leeds City Council) talk about building a trauma informed culture in the workforce. This is the second of our panel soundbites recorded at the Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Knowledge Exchange earlier this year. For more resources sign up to our Adversity, Trauma and Resilience digital portal or search ‘West Yorkshire trauma informed’.
Acting as one, delivering as one
Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership exemplify the power of a place-based partnership approach within integrated care systems. Shak Rafiq, the partnership’s Associate Director Communications and Involvement, and James Drury, Director of Partnership Development, offer a first-hand account of their inspiring journey. Read now.
Our Partnership’s People Board
The Partnership’s People Board met on Tuesday 25 July. The meeting was chaired by Kate Sims, NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, People Director. Agenda items follow the themes of our People Plan. This meeting covered the themes ‘looking after our people’ and ‘ways of delivering care.’
Board members received an update from Kirklees and Calderdale Workforce Steering Group colleagues about looking after our people at place and the West Yorkshire Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub work. There was also an update on the workforce observatory and new ways of working within primary care.
Urgent and emergency care programme update
The urgent and emergency care programme board (UEC) met on Tuesday 11 July and was chaired by Clare Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and Senior Responsible Officer for the programme.
Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) has been identified as one of the ten national priorities for winter as well as a priority of the UEC programme. West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts are establishing a new group to support the identification and delivery of priorities with SDEC as one of the key priorities, as well as ambulance handovers, winter preparation and discharge and will work coherently with the programme.
The UEC programme is taking a coordinated approach to working with our colleagues in both the 999 and NHS 111 services to provide for example integrated work plans to ensure joined up delivery of initiatives and projects both across West Yorkshire and at place.
Board members heard that following the first meeting of the newly established North East and Yorkshire UEC Delivery Group, West Yorkshire performance is currently strong, and plans are in place to achieve four primary metrics for UEC recovery. West Yorkshire ICB has been placed in Tier 3 of a newly introduced intervention regime for emergency care, designating that there is no system intervention but that this is more of a supportive relationship with both the NHS England regional and national team.
Following a regional winter event, a West Yorkshire winter event was also held where key themes and learning from previous winters were shared. A high level of scrutiny is expected, and preparations will be focused on winter surge capacity planning, prevention including vaccination programmes, UEC Recovery Plan priorities and operational system management.
West Yorkshire urgent care service review
The West Yorkshire urgent care service review is the first high profile service review since the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) became a statutory organisation in July 2022 and is worth over £20 million.
The West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care Programme has included the West Yorkshire Urgent Care Service Review as one of its key priorities. A paper was recently presented to the West Yorkshire Transformation and Programmes Senior Leadership Team who were supportive of the approach and a task and finish group has been established to progress the work.
The review spans the geography of West Yorkshire and encompasses GP out of hours, clinical advice services and several place-based arrangements including urgent treatment centres, Safe Haven and GP practice learning time. Read more about the review on the website.
Plea for people to get involved in ‘Book of Cope’
People are being encouraged to share their positive coping strategies for a new book designed to help anyone struggling with their mental health. The ‘Book of Cope’ will celebrate and share the different strategies people from West Yorkshire use to boost their mental wellbeing, to help others when facing their own challenges. The idea was developed by volunteers working on a project commissioned by West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership’s Suicide Prevention Programme and led by Leeds Mind, to bring the voice of lived experience into suicide prevention work.
The volunteers all have experience of the impact of suicide - either having been suicidal themselves, bereaved by suicide or have supported someone else facing mental health challenges - and came up with the idea of the book as a way of helping others feel less alone.
They have been out and about over the past few weeks, holding drop-in sessions across West Yorkshire, for people to design their own creative pages for the book. Now the team are appealing to the public to send in submissions from home, to try and capture as many coping strategies as possible.
Pages can be up to A4 size, sent via email to Arlie.
Living with obesity in West Yorkshire
Over 50 health and care colleagues from across West Yorkshire joined an event in Leeds last week to progress our West Yorkshire Obesity and Healthy Weight Strategy. Members of the public, with lived experience of obesity, also welcomed the opportunity to be involved in the event.
This was the second in a series of three events to inform work in this area. There were presentations around accessing treatment and services, living with obesity, mapping out children’s obesity services in West Yorkshire as well as group reflections on the progress made since the first event in May 2023. Workshops looked at accessing services, interventions and culture.
Next steps are to create a plan of action to address some of the themes, interventions and limitations discussed at the event, including setting up a West Yorkshire wide obesity group. The next event is planned for 13 September and will be held at The Met in Leeds again. If you are interested in attended this or similar events, please contact caroline.
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