Our work
We recognise the importance of all local health and care providers and commissioners working together to provide the best services we can. In Herefordshire and Worcestershire local healthcare organisations have been working together in partnership for some time(often referred to as a Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, or STP).
Now these relationships are in place we are developing even closer ways of working at a system level (ICS) to ensure patients get the safest, most effective and efficient services when they are needed.
To help achieve this we have developed a 5 year plan to improve services for local people. This plan is based on the NHS Long Term Plan and is underpinned by the core principles and values of the NHS which people trust and recognise.
This will mean that some services will change for local people and the workforce in our efforts to work together to improve health outcomes.There are many reasons why we need to change services to improve outcomes for our growing population:
- We have more demand on healthcare services
- In some areas we don’t have enough staff with the right expertise to provide a resilient and reliable service all the time
- We also have financial pressures.
All of these reasons can lead to longer waiting times or even delays and cancellations in getting the care or treatment people need.
Through our public and patient conversations over the last few years it is clear how much local people value the NHS and social care services. But we have also heard consistently how services are sometimes fragmented and confusing, particularly for those with more than one condition requiring the support of different professionals and disciplines. We have also heard how people want improvements in mental health services, and greater consideration of the impact of service changes on carers and families.
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Our core priority areas
There are some key areas where we need to change things or think a bit differently. Some of this is about how we develop the services we provide, but others require a step change in how we think about healthcare, our individual responsibilities around self-care and where care is provided and by who.
We continue to work together on a number of other key programmes including children and young people, learning disabilities and autism, GP and PCN development and local maternity services, as well as other disease specific improvements (for example stroke, diabetes, respiratory and cardiovascular disease)
These areas are supported by a number of areas which are critical for success, including strong clinical leadership, sustaining and developing our workforce, digital solutions, personalisation and prevention, population health management, clinical service sustainability and a common approach to quality improvement.
All of these will be underpinned by a consistent communications and engagement approach.