16649 Commissioning Newspaper-A4_Layout 1 04/08/2015 15:43 Page 5
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CCG LEADERS ARE SHOWING THE WAY WITH
GREATER MANCHESTER DEVOLUTION PLANS
The aim of the Greater
Manchester health and social
care devolution plans are to
ensure the greatest and
fastest possible improvement
to the health and well-being
of the area’s 2.7 million
population.
I
an Williamson, chief Officer, Greater
Manchester Health and Social Care
Devolution, told the Health+Care
audience, that a key aspect of their
journey was to pursue economic
growth to provide better jobs, training,
housing and education while tackling
high unemployment, sickness and
poor life expectancy.
“This isn't just about health and social
care, important though it is, this is
about the bigger picture,” he said.
Local
authorities
in
Greater
Manchester had developed a joint
strategy and strong leadership which
led to the first devolution agreement
struck with government in November
last year. This brought extra budget
and powers.
They are now working to establish a
model of integrated governance in
each of the 10 localities of Greater
Manchester and are producing 10
integrated local borough plans which
will provide a coherent and
strategically consistent plan for the
area.
Manchester have collectively decided
to reduce the number of hospitals
performing emergency surgery from
ten to four, a plan that will raise
standards and save up to 300 lives a
year.
The 37 statutory health and social care
bodies in greater Manchester will
need to address together the
variations in performance across the
area’s NHS trusts.
“Most challenging of all we are also
integrating our delivery mechanisms
for those local plans. This includes
councils putting in hundreds of
millions of pounds worth of their
resources into joint plans with the NHS
over and above the social care budget
in areas such as leisure and parks,” he
said
A world-class and pioneering
academic and health science system
is about to be launched in Greater
Manchester, providing a further boost
to the healthcare sector.
In the health sector they are aiming to
deliver seven day access to primary
care for the whole population in
greater Manchester by the end of the
year.
“I have been really encouraged by the
commitment and the determination of
our leaders across all parts of the
system to take all this on, it isn't easy,”
said Mr Williamson.
They are working to review and
realign acute services along with
improving primary and communitybased services. An agreement with
Public Health England will include
work to engage with a social
movement in order to improve health.
The 12 CCG's in Greater Manchester
were showing the way in improving
health services: “It has been very
challenging for CCG's to grow into the
leaders of our local health systems
from a standing start two years ago.
Our CCG's have had to deliver not only
in their own localities, they have had to
deliver collectively across Greater
The
12
CCGs
across
Greater
Ian Williamson
chief Officer
Greater Manchester Health
and Social Care Devolution
Manchester and this requires
compromise
and
collective
responsibility.
It means taking
decisions that are sometimes difficult
to sell back at the ranch.
“It requires the resilience and courage
that enable strong leaders to find
solutions that have hitherto been
elusive,” he said.
PROVIDERS WARNED: ADOPT A STRATEGIC
APPROACH OR LOSE CONTROL OF YOUR DESTINY
Service providers need to be
thinking strategically in order
to survive the challenges of the
next five years.
“Huge pressures are rocking
everybody into trying to run harder in
the existing system,”
Chris Hopson, Chief Executive of NHS
Providers, told Commissioning 2015
delegates.
Many providers were already
adopting new models of care. “We
hear people talking about creating
new organisational forms, with
greater emphasis on prevention and
hospitals saying we can't make our
current selection of services work so
how do we work with the hospital
next door or how do we work with
others who've got similar expertise.”
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
for example were talking about
Moorfields Eye Hospital providing
their eye service.
Boundaries were being blurred; the
Salford Integrated Primary and Acute
Care System vanguard was working
to bring primary, acute and adult
social care services together with
Salford Royal Hospital commissioning
mental health services.
In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
providers and commissioners had
come together to create a joint board
for strategic planning and with a £1
billion transformation fund, and a
deliberate share in the financial risk
were drawing together a number of
different players who previously were
operating separately.
Airedal