Supported by The Calico Group, ‘It’s not all about Hospitals’ was an event of collaboration for healthcare services in Lancashire and South Cumbria from NHS to charitable and community healthcare services.
An event hosted by Syncora board member, Mike Wedgeworth, discussions ranged from community services being vital for the NHS to collaborating between services.
Kevin McGee, Chief Executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, Andrew Bennett, Director of Population Health for Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board and Louise Taylor, Director of Health and Care Integration were part of a panel discussing collaboration between health services.
Kevin McGee answered questions around lack of funding and demand on the NHS and the way to get through the challenges the NHS faces is by working together. Kevin stated that focus should be on providing for our communities in which community services play a vital role and subsequently relieve pressure on the NHS.
Andrew Bennett and Louise Taylor reiterated the importance of collaboration and how it can create building blocks to creating stronger communities and tackling health inequalities in disadvantaged communities.
Amongst the audience and panel, questions were raised around current barriers to partnership working and the need to take more risks and give power back to communities. Debates were made around not creating the capacity for conversation and collaboration at local level.
Also in attendance was CLLR Pairwaz Akhtar, Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen and CLLR Yakub Patel, Mayor of Preston.
CLLR Pairwaz Akhtar raised concerns about A&E and GP waiting times and what measurements are being made to improve.
In a day filled with Q&As and collaborative discussion, Helen Thompson, Executive Director of Group Operations for The Calico Group presented Under The Roof of The Sky, an insightful documentary into homelessness in Greater Manchester, produced by Badkamra.
Michael Hedgeworth, Syncora Board Member said: “120 Lancashire leaders from the NHS, local government and the voluntary sector shared ideas about how the move from hospitals to care in the community should be expanded. There was common consent that health and care cannot be ‘all about Hospitals’ however vital for our well-being they are.
I was delighted about the many positive proposals that were made, whilst recognising concerns about whether and how they could be funded. We plan to ensure that the already good partnerships we share can be built on to the benefit of our communities.”
Sarah Swanson, Managing Director at Syncora said: ‘It was great to see so many people and ogranisations coming together to discuss and collaborate on how services of all types can best serve our communities, with several good examples of how this is happening.
Community services play a vital role in reducing demand and pressure from the NHS, despite concerns around funding, the partnerships we build are of huge importance in delivering services that benefit our communities.’
