Agenda item

Report attached to be presented by Julie Ross.

A report was presented to the Board on the production, currently underway, of a Communities and Neighbourhoods model in Newcastle and in Gateshead designed to facilitate more care being provided in community and neighbourhood settings.

The model has been developed over the last 12 months through a range of stakeholder conversations.  Describing a system architecture designed to shift care from hospital settings to community settings and ideally to people’s own homes, the model captures work already underway in many parts of the Gateshead geography.  The model will not duplicate existing work – but will bring into a coherent story, the collective efforts of statutory, voluntary, community and third sector agencies.

The Communities and Neighborhoods model is designed to deliver improved outcomes for the population in terms of their health and wellbeing and builds upon measures and metrics already in place.  For example, its success will be measured through the number of patients remaining at home 91 days after discharge, permanent admissions to care homes, reduced readmissions and delayed transfers of care.  Such measures of success are taken from existing frameworks, and importantly from the Better Care Fund.

Feedback has been sought over the past couple of months. Once all the feedback has been received, the model will be revised at that point - it has not been revised following each engagement session as the initial views of each group were sought to see what consistencies were coming through within the feedback received.

The neighbourhoods and communities model is a large scale change programme and a lot of time has been spent in “conversation sessions” with various stakeholder groups.  The current slides and handout are designed for professional audiences and work is currently underway to develop public facing documents.  The model encompasses health and care services – there is not yet sufficient emphasis on children, health inequalities or the workforce challenge.  The work on prevention and improving overall health is subject to a different workstream which also needs to be described within the slides.

It was felt that reference needs to be made within the model to the ‘place’ dimension and that the language used to describe the model will be key in getting key messages across. It was also felt that the ‘enhanced primary care’ component of the model will be crucial going forward.

It was queried how informal care featured within the model and it was felt that the model needs to reflect ways of working across the VCS.

It was noted that if the model is to be delivered, getting the finances right will be central to this, including how finances are pooled across the local system and how risks are shared. An open and honest conversation is required on this issue.

It is proposed that the Gateshead Tranformation Board, which exists as part of the Gateshead Care Partnership, leads the work to implement the communities and neighbourhoods model.

RESOLVED   -             (i)       that it be noted that the title of the model will be changed following feedback already received

                                      (ii)      comments of the Health and Wellbeing Board will be noted as part of the overall feedback received and the model altered accordingly.