West Cheshire Patient Support Group Forum Wednesday, October 17 th 2018 Conference Room A, 1829 Building, Countess of Chester Health Park, Liverpool Road, Chester, CH2 1HJ In attendance: Gus Cairns (Blacon Health and Wellbeing Partnership & Blacon Mental Wellbeing Group) Rob Robertson (West Cheshire Mental Health Forum) David Foulds (Methodist Housing Association) Katie Roebuck (Neurotherapy Centre) Gill Reeder (Deafness Support Joanne Guerrero (Hospice of the Good Shepherd) Andrew Garman (Platform for Life) Julie Rees (Cardiomyopathy UK) Jenny Rees (Cardiomyopathy UK) Andy Makin (Brio Leisure) Ruth Austen-Vincent (MS Society) Beth Bensley (Cheshire West Communities Together) John Jones (Chester Heart Support) Jonathan Taylor (NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group) Chris Amery (NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group) Apologies received from: Gareth Gould (Socialist Health Association) Michael Edwardson (Socialist Health Association) Koren Bailey (Countess of Chester) Jean Hardiman-Smith (CCG Patient Representative) 1 P a g e
Working Together across Cheshire & Joining up Care in Cheshire West Update by NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group s Head of Communications and Engagement Jonathan Taylor (JT) Key messages included: 1) A shared vision has been developed around integrated care by partners including: Cheshire West and Chester Council, NHS West Cheshire and NHS Vale Royal CCGs, Countess of Chester Hospital, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership, Central Cheshire ICP and 47 GP practices across the local authority footprint. 2) These key players in the system are coming together with the common aim of improving health and care outcomes, by developing an Integrated Care Partnership in Cheshire West which will help us overcome organisational boundaries and focus on improving care and support via collaboration. 3) Alison Lee, the former Chief Executive of West Cheshire CCG, has recently taken up post as Managing Director of the Cheshire West ICP and has a core team working with her. 4) We ve published a shared document called Joining up Care in Cheshire West which sets the vision and case for change and our focus on person-centred, community-focused care and support. There s been some early public discussion about this work via the Health and Wellbeing Board and various networks and forums. 5) Key characteristics of the developing Integrated Care Partnership in Cheshire West include our Place-based approach to integrated care in Cheshire West (co-terminous with CWAC) a partnership of multiple organisations delivering health and care in Cheshire West and collective accountability for budgets and outcomes. Development of nine care communities which extend beyond the existing community care teams to work more closely with the individuals, organisations and groups is also key, as is a clear focus on prevention and early identification. 6) To date we have identified a group of providers in the same geography who are willing to work together to provide integrated care, agreed a set of principles for joint working and are developing a model of care to meet commissioner defined outcomes with a focus on development of care communities. There is also a move towards more formal governance. 7) We are working to deliver a series of community conversations with local people across the borough. This will involve commissioning an engagement programme from a provider to start a conversation with local people about improving health and wellbeing in our care communities. It is expected that this will begin in January. 8) In conjunction with the development of Integrated Care Partnerships in both Cheshire West and Cheshire East is a move towards developing a single 2 P a g e
strategic commissioner or Cheshire CCG, which is seen as key to enabling ICP development. 9) Where it makes sense to do so, we already commission together across a Cheshire footprint and a Joint Cheshire Commissioning Committee is already in place to enable some decisions to be made once across Cheshire. However, a single Cheshire CCG will enable us to maximise these opportunities. 10) Money will also be saved by doing this for example by there being one executive team and (potentially, further down the line) one Governing Body, not three with the money saved being used to support patient care. 11) We re on a timeline to April 2020 for the establishment of the single Cheshire CCG as a statutory body. Questions and comments: 1) There should be patient involvement on the ICP board. They re a provider so that s a gap. (Ruth Austen-Vincent MS Society) 2) I think this should help achieve better consistency across Cheshire, which has got to be a good thing. There shouldn t be a postcode lottery. (Gill Reeder Deafness Support 3) If this gives the CCG more clout then that could potentially work against smaller community or third sector groups. That s why it is so important to have them at the table now. (Ruth Austen-Vincent MS Society) 4) Reducing funding at a time of increasing demand is short-sighted. I hope some of the money saved comes back into the third sector. We can t deliver services for free. If you plan to rely on the third sector in the future then you need to be a bit more generous with funding. (David Foulds Methodist Housing Association) 5) If more decisions are made locally then there s more chance of smaller groups surviving. (Rob Robertson West Cheshire Mental Health Forum) 6) The first step is to understand what groups are currently delivering. They need to be an equal partner at the table otherwise they will always get less resource than the main providers. (Ruth Austen-Vincent MS Society) 7) Chester Voluntary Action should be here. They re best-placed to represent the sector in this area. (David Foulds Methodist Housing Association) 8) In terms of this year s grant application process, the CCG could roll over a proportion of the grants. (Ruth Austen-Vincent MS Society) 9) In terms of the community conversations, we often hear that people are being consulted and then nothing gets done. (Beth Bensley Cheshire West Communities Together) 10) The design of those community conversations is really important. You should also map what has already been done in those areas. You need to let us 3 P a g e
know what s happening and it needs to be as inclusive as possible. (Ruth Austen-Vincent MS Society) 11) The onus is on us as well to get out there, find out what s happening and get involved. This shouldn t all be top down. (Gill Reeder Deafness Support 12) I think it s positive that you are putting resource into prioritising conversations with local communities. (Rob Robertson West Cheshire Mental Health Forum) Updates from Forum members - All 1) We re currently working on plans to improve crisis care in West Cheshire. At the moment, someone who needs help overnight or at weekends is likely to end up in hospital, accompanied by a police officer. The system has successfully secured 300k from the Beyond Places of Safety programme to support the conversion of an existing building into a peer support service for people who are in crisis. (Rob Robertson West Cheshire Mental Health Forum) 2) We re trying to raise the profile of our support group, which covers Cheshire and Merseyside. We support patients and their families through diagnosis and beyond. (Julie Rees Cardiomyopathy UK) 3) After a health scare which put me in Broad Green for three days I realised I was in denial I couldn t believe what had happened to me and felt there was a lack of support available. That s why I get involved with Chester Heart Support. Doctors can usually treat your physical condition but it s often what happens between your ears that has the biggest effect. (John Jones Chester Heart Support) 4) We offer a specialist counselling and support service which focuses on struggling families in disadvantaged areas. Our approach is to go right to the heart of those communities and to be flexible in what we provide. Two thirds of our referrals are from schools although our work typically starts with the parents. We re building a partnership with Western Avenue Medical Centre in Blacon, which is developing a social supermarket. (Andrew Garman Platform for Life) 5) The Neurotherapy Centre, based in Saltney, supports people with neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson s. We were successful in a bid to Sport England last year to work with sports instructors to enable people with neurological conditions to remain active. We re working closely with Brio Leisure and the Walton Centre on this three-year project and it s hugely exciting. (Katie Roebuck Neurotherapy Centre) 6) We ve developed a holistic needs assessment service for people in West Cheshire who are living with cancer. We aim to ensure that people get the 4 P a g e
support they need, typically towards the end of treatments. (Andy Makin Brio Leisure) 7) We run a Living Well Centre but we re struggling to get patients to use the service. The aim is to provide psychological and emotional support for people with life-limiting conditions and their families. This could be end stage cancer or neurological conditions, for example. 8) I am working as a community inspirer for the Poverty Truth Commission and feed in around mental health. In January we will meet business and civic leaders to discuss what needs to change to make people s lives better. (Gus Cairns Blacon Health and Wellbeing Partnership) 9) Deaf people don t come to us because they re deaf, they come to us because they cannot communicate properly with a service when they should be able to. We run a two-and-a-half hour training programme which offers basic awareness for anybody who might get someone who is profoundly deaf or hard of hearing through their doors. (Gill Reeder Deafness Support 10) The Millbrook Unit in Macclesfield which treats people with severe mental ill health is set to close. A public consultation has just finished and it is likely to close next year. We re concerned about the impact this could have on services in this area. (Rob Robertson West Cheshire Mental Health Forum) Next meeting date TBC 5 P a g e