Joint media statement from NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust and Gloucestershire County Council

Health and care leaders in Gloucestershire have welcomed today’s national announcement from NHS England that Gloucestershire is to become one of only 14 Integrated Care Systems (ICS) across the country.

At the same time, the county has been given a huge vote of confidence and praised by NHS England Chief Executive, Simon Stevens for providing strong leadership, for effective partnership working and ambitious plans to join up support and services for the benefit of communities.

Gloucestershire has also been praised for improvements in access to GP services, A&E performance, cancer treatment times as well as a reduction in cancelled operations and delays for people ready to leave hospital.

In a joint statement, the Chief Executives and lead elected members of the local NHS and social care organisations explained what they believe an ICS for Gloucestershire will mean:

  • an even greater focus on supporting people to keep healthy and independent and developing active communities
  • local people with long term conditions – whether those are physical health, mental health or learning disability related – should see more joined up care and support in their own homes, GP surgery, community or in hospital
  • staff should find it easier to work with colleagues from other organisations to support shared health priorities
  • greater freedom and control to make local decisions about services and use of the Gloucestershire pound
  • ability to attract additional money to develop services and support.

They said:

“This announcement today is testament to the strong and positive partnerships already in place across the health and care family in Gloucestershire.

We have a strong track record in the county for working together to break down organisational barriers and to support seamless, joined up care and support for local people.

Working as ‘One Gloucestershire’ we have made tremendous strides over the last few years, using our collective strength to improve the way support and care is provided. This was highlighted by the magnificent way our professional staff worked together to manage winter pressures so successfully this year.

By working with local communities, Gloucestershire continues to make significant progress in supporting people to look after their own health and keep healthy.

We have also seen significant improvements in access to GP surgery and community based support and care, A&E performance and a reduction in cancelled operations and delays for people ready to leave hospital. Improving access to mental health support and cancer care have also been top priorities.

We want to ensure that first and foremost, the needs of local people are served and today’s announcement marks a natural next step as we continue on our journey of collaborative working.

To achieve this we will continue to draw on the expertise of others such as councils, charities and the wider voluntary and community sector.”

Notes:

Partnership working in Gloucestershire over the last year has encouraged an extra 63 schools and 11,000 pupils to walk or jog ‘the Daily Mile,’ led to 40,000 more GP surgery appointments, improvements in A&E performance, a reduction in cancelled operations and a reduction in the percentage of patients stuck unnecessarily in a hospital bed to 2 percent.

There have also been new investments in perinatal mental health, mental health crisis services, access to psychological therapies, criminal justice liaison services and mental health liaison within community and acute hospitals.

Gloucestershire is 1 of 4 areas to be named in the Wave 2 announcement today and will initially become a ‘shadow’ ICS with specific timescales for full establishment to be determined.

Movement to an ICS does not mean a merger of existing organisations or creation of a new organisation, rather organisations coming together in voluntary partnership.

A memorandum of understanding will set out the principles of collaboration between the partners for development of services and use of resources.

This is a joint statement from (list below):

 

Mary Hutton, Accountable Officer, NHS Gloucestershire CCG and STP lead

Dr Andy Seymour, CCG Clinical Chair, on behalf of primary care

Deborah Lee, Chief Executive, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Paul Roberts, Joint Chief Executive, Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and 2gether NHS Foundation Trust

Ken Wenmen, Chief Executive, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Pete Bungard, Chief Executive, Gloucestershire County Council

Cllr Roger Wilson, cabinet member for adult social care commissioning, Gloucestershire County Council

Cllr Kathy Williams, cabinet member for adult social care delivery, Gloucestershire County Council

Cllr Tim Harman, cabinet member for public health and communities, Gloucestershire County Council.