West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership (WY HCP), which includes NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (NHS WY ICB), has launched two important plans to support the 2.4 million people living across the area.
With the passing of the Health and Care Act 2022, there is a requirement for integrated care systems (like the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership) to develop an Integrated Health and Social Care Strategy and for integrated care boards to develop a Joint Forward Plan to deliver the NHS components of the strategy.
Building on people’s views on how its ambitions for the NHS will be achieved in a new joint forward plan for the area, the strategy and plan are available to view on the Partnership’s website at https://www.wypartnership.co.uk/publications.
Co-produced in partnership with colleagues from across all health and care sectors in West Yorkshire, they have been developed from Healthwatch engagement, local involvement activities, views from meetings held in public via the local health and wellbeing boards, West Yorkshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the NHS WY ICB and WY HCP Board. A public consultation between January and March this year highlighted the importance of access to care, including GPs and dentists as well as breaking down health inequalities, better joined up care, workforce recruitment, and ‘getting the basics right’.
Cathy Elliott, Chair of the NHS WY ICB said: “The demand for health and care has been rising. This is the challenge we must address, by focusing on preventing ill health and proactively supporting people to stay well at home; and by arranging services in a way so that local people can receive care from the right people in the most appropriate setting. Whilst challenges are significant, we believe that working together at all levels is the best way of tackling them. Having the Joint Forward Plan will help us keep focused on what matters to our staff, local people and West Yorkshire’s communities as we move forward with our health and care ambitions together”.
Rob Webster CBE, CEO of NHS WY ICB and CEO Lead for WY HCP said: “Our 10 big ambitions set out how we want to increase the years of life that people live in good health in West Yorkshire, with a focus on areas such as increasing our early diagnosis rates for cancer and preventing suicide. We also want to achieve a 10% reduction in the gap in life expectancy between people with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and/or autism and other groups of people. We are now in a different context that will alter our approach, for example living with COVID, widening health inequalities and a cost-of-living crisis, our plans reflect this. We now need to get on and deliver for everyone living in West Yorkshire”.
Cllr Tim Swift , Deputy Leader of Calderdale Council and Chair of WY HCP Partnership Board said: “As a large Partnership, agreeing the way we work together is an important part of building on the strong foundations established since 2016. Collectively it’s all our responsibility to oversee the delivery of these plans. They have been built from our local health and wellbeing board strategies to reflect what is important for local people and communities. This is at the very centre of all we do”.
Sharanjit Boughan, Associate Director, West Yorkshire Healthwatch said:
“It’s vital that people’s feedback of health and care services is at the centre of how health and care is delivered across our area. This helps make sure services are meeting their needs. It’s great to see that these important plans for West Yorkshire have been built on the important feedback that people have shared”.
You can read the WY HCP Integrated Care Strategy at www.wypartnership.co.uk/publications/west-yorkshire-integrated-care-strategy and the Joint Forward Plan at www.wypartnership.co.uk/joint-forward-plan-2023.
