A couple of weeks ago, Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England, launched the
NHS Five Year Forward View (5YFV), setting out a future vision for the NHS, why change is needed, what change might look like and how it can be achieved.
As it happened, the 5YFV was launched on the same day I was working with the Trust's senior leaders on our own strategy, which was both timely and endorsing of the plans we have been working on in recent years. So I want to highlight areas where the 5YFV chimes with the
Pennine Care vision and strategy we launched earlier this year...
“when people do need health services, patients will gain far greater control of their own care – including the option of shared budgets combining health and social care. The 1.4 million full time unpaid carers in England will get new support, and the NHS will become a better partner with voluntary organisations and local communities.”
Across the Trust we are training staff and promoting self-care as a first line intervention. With My Health, My Community (was
formerly the Living Well Academy) we are promoting carers support, developed with them that works for them. In many areas we are growing integration of health and social care delivery.
“the NHS will take decisive steps to break down the barriers in how care is provided between family doctors and hospitals, between physical and mental health, between health and social care. The future will see far more care delivered locally but with some services in specialist centres, organised to support people with multiple health conditions, not just single diseases.”
We continue to roll out Mental Health Matters and Physical Health Matters training to all of our staff. In October, the Trust's Psychological Medicine Team won a national Positive Practice in Mental Health award for its ground breaking psychological services for physical health conditions. We are joining up with hospitals, primary care, social care and the third sector to deliver new ways of operating care services.
“One new option will permit groups of GPs to combine with nurses, other community health services, hospital specialists and perhaps mental health and social care to create integrated out-of-hospital care - the Multi-speciality Community Provider. Early versions of these models are emerging in different parts of the country, but they generally do not yet employ hospital consultants, have admitting rights to hospital beds, run community hospitals or take delegated control of the NHS budget.”
This captures both the partnership board approach we have established in Oldham and the one we are developing in Heywood Middleton and Rochdale. These partnership boards ensure all organisations can make a valued contribution. At present in these partnerships include community, mental health, GPs and wider primary care, as well as third sector providers and social care. We are also hoping to extend this to include housing associations too.
“A further new option will be the integrated hospital and primary care provider - Primary and Acute Care Systems - combining for the first time general practice and hospital services, similar to the Accountable Care Organisations now developing in other countries too.”
Going forward, Pennine Care will be able to make a positive contribution as a specialist provider of community and mental health solutions as part of developing models of integration. As a Trust, we are now placed to provide ‘bespoke’ developments and contributions which will differ from town to town.
“Across the NHS, urgent and emergency care services will be redesigned to integrate between A&E departments, GP out-of-hours services, urgent care centres, NHS 111, and ambulance services. Smaller hospitals will have new options to help them remain viable, including forming partnerships with other hospitals further afield, and partnering with specialist hospitals to provide more local services. Midwives will have new options to take charge of the maternity services they offer. The NHS will provide more support for frail older people living in care homes.”
In Trafford the
Community Enhanced Care Service is now showing a demonstrated return on investment, generating deflection away from hospital and preventing people from ever reaching the hospital door. The Trust's
RAID service (mental health liaison into hospitals) has recently been evaluated and demonstrated significant returns.
“The foundation of NHS care will remain list-based primary care. Given the pressures they are under, we need a ‘new deal’ for GPs. Over the next five years the NHS will invest more in primary care, while stabilising core funding for general practice nationally over the next two years. GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups will have the option of more control over the wider NHS budget, enabling a shift in investment from acute to primary and community services. The number of GPs in training needs to be increased as fast as possible, with new options to encourage retention.”
In Oldham, the Trust leads the Integrated Provider Hub for mental health investment. As a consequence of GP-led commissioning the Trust has been empowered to shift mental health investment away from hospital-based care.
“In order to support these changes, the national leadership of the NHS will need to act coherently together, and provide meaningful local flexibility in the way payment rules, regulatory requirements and other mechanisms are applied. We will back diverse solutions and local leadership, in place of the distraction of further national structural reorganisation.”
This is a welcome position for Pennine Care, where we have found top down structural reorganisation could never overcome the need for local solutions delivered from partnership working. The competing demands and different cultures of each stakeholder can only come together through locally determined and committed leadership.
In going forward the Trust intends to continue with its vision and strategy. As the 5YFV notes there is a ‘broad consensus’ on the direction required; across Pennine Care, between commissioners and providers this is largely in place. The challenge now is to construct new integrated arrangements within this broadly agreed direction of travel.
What's really good about the 5YFV is that it connects with the 'broad consensus,' leaving you feeling like its speaking to your local work, affirming we are in the right direction. I think we are but we can't be complacent and have to work hard now on translating vision into delivery.
I’d like to start off by saying thank you to everyone who took the time to read or respond to last week’s blog – it has been viewed nearly 1600 times and I have received direct feedback and comments from around 40 members of staff. 