LAUNCHING HEALTH AND CARE SERVICES INTO THE FUTURE

As of today (1 October 2018) national NHS bodies have transferred greater control to South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw for health services run and delivered to the 1.5 million people who live there. 

Alongside this change, local NHS leaders have emphasised their commitment to wanting to work more closely with local councils and the voluntary sector to improve the health and wellbeing of residents across the region and build on the work that is already taking place at a local level.  This will be done on the basis of integrated care partnerships, under an umbrella of an ‘Integrated Care System’ (ICS) - one of only a handful across the country.

Most of the partnership work between the NHS, councils and the voluntary sector will take place at a local level in each of the five places covered by the arrangements: Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.  The ICS will support this work and address issues that will be best delivered through collaboration across the whole of South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw. 

Sir Andrew Cash, Chief Executive of the region’s Integrated Care System, said: “It is an exciting time for us in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw.  There is commitment in our places for coming together to break down barriers between services so people experience more seamless and co-ordinated care from across our public services and the voluntary sector.  We will look at what we do well and what could be done better to ensure that we are supporting people to start life well, live well and deliver the best possible care and support to people. 

Sir Andrew continued, “We also know that people’s health and wellbeing is largely determined by factors such as employment, housing and education.  The NHS is therefore committed to working with partners in local government and the community and voluntary sectors to help address these challenges that we have in common.  For example, addressing lifestyle factors such as smoking and obesity and wider prevention work such as tackling loneliness.  All these factors are significant causes of ill health and we want people to need less treatment and be able to live healthier lives.  This work will therefore provide even greater support to the strategies set out by the Health and Wellbeing Boards of each of our Councils”.

The ICS has been allocated around £25m of new funding in 2018/19 to invest in improving key services.  The ICS is already establishing two new forums to work across South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw - a ‘Health and Care Institute’ linked with universities, colleges and schools to develop and support the workforce and an ‘Innovation Hub’ for researching new developments and technologies.

Professor Des Breen, the ICS’s Medical Director said: “We have some fantastic health and care services in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw and everyday our staff continue to do amazing things. We now have the opportunity to work even closer together and to focus our work on the areas that need it the most – we want to strengthen our services, make sure we support our staff to do the jobs they love and ensure we have health and care services that can care for people now and well into the future”. 

The ICS has set up a website with information on who they are and what they do:  www.healthandcaretogethersyb.co.uk .  The ICS is also developing its governance arrangements to ensure its work is transparent and accountable.

-ENDS –

Note to editors:

• Working in this way does not replace any legal, or statutory, responsibilities of any of the partner organisations. It is simply a way of identifying how working together can bring about further improvements.