Posted on: 10 June 2021
Global Partnerships
Hello, my name is Jonathan and I am working on Global Partnerships within the Partnership. I am here from Health Education England.
I write about Global Partnerships, at a moment when immense challenges in health and care are faced the world over. Not that it is unusual for health services to be extremely busy, but the pandemic has intensified the pressure and responsibility levels, along with the workload placed upon health and care people across the world.
All colleagues near and far have responded with resilience, determination, and incredible skill, supported by amazing volunteers giving their time freely for the greater good.
Everyone has learnt how to do things in new and different ways.
We cannot underestimate the understanding and support required for repair and recovery, at a time when energy is low. These words themselves do not do justice to the level of care required for the people who deliver help and support. Our situation urges us to listen, learn and do things differently for the good of all. The opportunity to support others in even more challenging circumstances is something to reflect upon currently.
Did you know that:
- 1 in 7 people of the world will never see a health professional throughout their entire life.
- It is estimated that by 2030 the gap in the healthcare workforce will be 18 million world-wide.
*The World Health Organisation (WHO)
I know these things to be true and have seen first-hand how it can be for many less fortunate than us who don’t have access to our world class NHS - the challenges are in front of us, and we can do something about it.
If you visit the WHO site, and I encourage you to do so, you will hopefully get the same sense that I did, - the UK and the NHS is part of a global family in health and care for the people of our world.
Another website worth visiting is the Tropical Health Education Trust which specialises in understanding and promoting health partnerships.
Many of you will have your own experiences and favourite organisations involved in Global Health. Perhaps we should develop a knowledge base to share experiences across our Partnership… watch this space and please contact me, details below, with your views.
I believe and have seen that at the heart of health and care is LEARNING. In education before starting work and every day, every health and care intervention is a moment of opportunity to learn. Formal education and training are embedded in the delivery of health and care and some experience global opportunities which they often remark to be “life changing”.
Health Education England has established an approach to Global Partnerships and is developing plans with the NHS to strengthen the UK contribution to world health and learning. The aim is to deliver benefits to both people working within the NHS, our integrated care systems and to those partners we work with internationally.
Working with colleagues across the Partnership we are looking at how Global Partnerships can benefit our integrated care system through the production of a plan of action that supports delivery of local services in a sustainable and ethical way against local priorities.
West Yorkshire and Harrogate people are great global citizens, who really care about people and colleagues, both here and overseas.
Our current thinking involves…
- Working on educational pathways to NHS employment that put people first and give them the very best chance of success. Examples: clinical radiologists and radiographers. psychiatrists and nurses specialising in mental health.
- Creating learning opportunities for colleagues - including international placements and volunteering. Examples: global fellows and SCALE virtual action learning sets with East Africa.
- Over time collaborating to build on existing programmes in areas such as non-surgical oncology and international multi-disciplinary team preparation training for cancer services
- Developing an approach to collaborative working overseas offering technical support and learning to global partners that create capacity and capability overseas along with providing innovation and learning for the UK.
We will of course…
- Put learning first
- Broaden involvement
- Put the experience of people at the heart of what we do.”
For more information please get in touch with me at Jonathan.
Have a good weekend all.
Jonathan
NHS Covid Vaccine First Dose Drive Enters ‘The Home Straight’ As Final Cohort Called Forward
The NHS Covid vaccination programme is inviting remaining adults for their COVID-19 jabs, on the six-month anniversary of administering the world-first approved jab.
The last group of adults will begin to be called forward for the first time tomorrow, with around three million people aged between 25 and 29 getting invited to book their first dose, with texts being sent from tomorrow and national booking services updated at 7am. Read more on the Partnership website.
Men’s health week
Men’s Health Week (14 -20 June), will bring a renewed focus on the need for our health and care system to proactively engage and include men. Across West Yorkshire, nationally and internationally, more men die by suicide than women. A report published last month by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) into factors related to suicide in middle age men has reinforced what our local data is telling us about risk and protective factors. You can find out more from this short animation.
As a system, we are responding well, investing in a broad range of local voluntary community social enterprise sector projects to engage men, targeting employers, including those with high percentage of male staff, through great initiatives like Mindful Employer, working with State of Mind Sports and a two year suicide prevention project across West Yorkshire with Gypsies and Travellers. We are delivering successful awareness raising campaigns including Check In (targeting health and social care staff and volunteers), and the Sharing Voices work in Bradford. WY HCP coordinates a monthly voluntary sector learning forum for organisations who work to prevent male suicide, as well as a quarterly learning and sharing forum – the Suicide Prevention Advisory Network – please contact Jessica.
We could do more. The key challenge is – what are you doing to protect and promote the mental health of men? How can we better include men most at risk of suicide in the support and care we offer? Please take the training, save a life.
Survey film
Our partners at BTM have produced this short British Sign Language survey film about accessing mental health services if you are in crisis. The BTM team is supporting the call for a local counsellor who is deaf and who uses British Sign Language. You can share this and if you have feedback, please send a text message or British Sign Language video message via WhatsApp to 07535120222.
What else has been happening this week?
Free one-hour climate change 'lunch and learn' sessions
We’re joining Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership in hosting a series of hour-long educational sessions to address the challenges we face with climate change and the impact this will have on our healthcare system, as well as the populations we serve.
We’ll be joined by special guest speakers to look at what can be made ‘greener’ - from primary and secondary care to procurement and transport. At the next session on Friday 25 June (12.30pm to 1.30pm) the focus will be on greening the secondary care system: hospitals, emergency departments, pharmacies and perioperative care.
You’ll find the dates and themes for all 2021 lunch and learn sessions, and how to register your place, on the Climate Change Events page.
Our Partnership supports Carers Week 2021
Our Partnership supported Carers Week 2021, which took place this week with the theme Make Caring Visible and Valued.
There are an estimated 325,000 (Carers UK) unpaid carers living in West Yorkshire and Harrogate and among this figure are many children and young people who care for parents with long-term health conditions. This number is expected to rise. Many don’t identify with the word ‘carer’ and, as a result, feel invisible and unaware of the support that is available for them.
Throughout this important week, we shared various resources to build on the great work taking place from local carers organisations in Bradford district and Craven, Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield.
Other work included the launch of a Young Carers Support App to help young carer to access information on how to look after their health and wellbeing as well as support available to them in their caring role and promoting a short video helping to raise awareness of the many struggles in the life of a working carer.
NHS England and Improvement have created the Primary Care Quality Markers which include guidance and practical ideas that have been developed in partnership with carers and health teams, including GPs. The aim is to help general practice staff identify and support carers of all ages, encouraging them how they can easily embed quality markers into daily practice.
Offering better support for our young carers: Young Carers Support App
Thank you to those of you who were able to join our Launch, Lunch and Leant event which took place on Tuesday 8th June to celebrate the launch of our Young Carers Support App. Due to high demand, we wanted to circulate some additional information and resources which you can use to promote the app within your local place and organisations.
Young carers provide invaluable support to their loved ones. We know that caring can impact on a young person’s health, social life, education, and self-confidence. COVID-19 has added additional challenges. A recent survey from Carers Trust 2020 highlights the impact the pandemic has had on young carers mental health. 69% of young carers and young adult carers reported feeling less connected to others, with up to 78% saying they are feeling more anxious about the future. Read the Carers Trust survey on the impact of coronavirus on young carers and young adult carers here.
Our Partnership has worked as a strategic development partner with Expert Self Care Ltd, and have launched a Young Carers Support App which is free and available to download on both Android and IOS.
The Young Carers Support App bears the Patient Information Forum 'PIF Tick', the only UK quality mark for trustworthy health information. The app offers clear and easily accessible advice and is a comprehensive resource not just for young carers but also for any professional working with young carers and young people.
Please support our anti-racism movement. Register and get involved.
Our Partnership review in 2020 identified the need for an anti-racism movement aimed at colleagues, organisations and all communities.
With the support of the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, our objective is to unite colleagues and communities in rooting out racism. This will help to tackle health inequalities for minority ethnic groups of people by kickstarting a co-produced movement which will be launched at the end of August 2021. The aim is to shine a light on racism issues and prompt individuals and organisations alike to act.
You can get involved by registering your support for this important movement by completing this registration form by Thursday 1 July, so you too are ready to root out racism. By doing so you will be sent a free communication toolkit.
Please share this information far and wide with any colleagues and communities who may also be willing to get behind this movement.
Housing for Health Network
The Housing and Health Network met on Wednesday with a focussed session on women and homelessness and a number of guest speakers, including a colleague from Basis Yorkshire who discussed research into the experience of women who were homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amanda also spoke to the network about her experience of being homeless and the experience of other women she met. You can read more on the 'An Untold Story' website. There was also a discussion on the Joanna project in Leeds and Fulfilling Lives in Islington.
Two projects aimed at improving homeless and rough sleeper access to health care have now been commissioned. Groundswell UK have begun peer led research in Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield. A project officer has been recruited and peer researchers are being recruited and trained.
Groundswell UK and Bevan Health Care have started the Smart Inclusion Health Peer Advocates (SHIPS) programme in Leeds and Bradford. So far 11 peer advocates have been recruited and are being trained. Two co-ordinators for the programme have also been successfully recruited. The Good Things Foundation have donated the SMART technology required. The programme is now building links/pathways with the “out of hospital Leeds” programme.
We are supporting NHSE in a piece of work looking at the housing pathways and complex housing requirements for people who are leaving institutional care with a history of fire starting and a Housing for Older People task and finish group has been set up.
Work is in progress with Huddersfield University to develop a series of housing and health briefing notes. The briefings will cover mental health, housing health at the intersection of town centre development and regeneration, within a wider context of post pandemic recovery and the health benefits of decarbonisation
The Good Home Inquiry, launched in July 2020, will run until mid-2021 to establish why so many of England’s homes are in poor condition, as well as exploring what we need in a good home. Through our link we hope to contribute to the evidence and support recommendations made.
Partnership Innovation and Improvement Hub
The expanded Innovation and Improvement Board met on 27 May for a rich discussion around how to support a culture where staff feel empowered to innovate and improve; where sharing and learning is done as a matter of course and how we make the most of the diverse range of expertise in our Partnership footprint. The Board agreed principles for its strategic oversight of innovation and improvement activity, with culture and sharing and learning being fundamental to its activity. The Board also heard from the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network (YHAHSN) on proposals for an innovation pipeline, discussing the need for senior staff to be sighted on promising innovations at an early stage, and agreed proposals for the Leeds Academic Health Partnership and the YHAHSN to explore potential for working with cross-sector partners on pressing problems facing the NHS.
West Yorkshire Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism (MHLDA) Services Collaborative - Joint Non-Executive Director and Governor Event
The MHLDA collaborative is holding its twice-yearly Non-executive Director (NED) / Governor Event today (Friday) The focus is to brief NEDs and Governors on the latest news regarding our Partnership, and the wider MHLDA programme and to undertake deep-dives into specific topics. This time the topics being covered are the transforming care programme and the Partnership’s Learning Disability Health Inequalities Challenge, supporting workforce wellbeing (including the role of our Staff Mental Wellbeing Hub) and patient/public engagement within the new integrated care system structures.
Durham University research to measure the role charities play in improving people’s lives and wellbeing in the region.
The positive effect of charity and community activities across Yorkshire is to be measured as part of a new study co-funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The study will measure the size and effect of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Sector, examining its economic and social impact on improving people’s lives and wellbeing in the region. The research is led by Professor Tony Chapman of St Chad’s College, Durham University.
The study, which is expected to be published in the summer, will develop a fuller picture of the VSCE sector, including its size, turnover, assets, the numbers of people employed, the value of volunteering and impact.
It has been commissioned by West Yorkshire Combined Authority in partnership with West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership, Yorkshire Sports Foundation, Community First Yorkshire, and Two Ridings Community Foundation. You can read more read more on the Partnership website.
A new helipad is planned for Airedale Hospital
Airedale Hospital has announced plans to build a helipad on its site at Steeton, to enable more air ambulance transfers and ensure people get lifesaving treatment as quickly as possible.
Airedale emergency consultant Dr David Driver, who has worked on the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, explains why a helipad is needed: “Our location at the edge of the Dales means that often the air ambulance is the only or fastest way to get injured or unwell patients to urgent care in an emergency. Those patients need treatment as soon as possible, and it is better for them if they can be brought here, rather than enduring the longer trip to a hospital further away.
“However, currently air ambulances have to land on fields at the bottom of the hospital site, necessitating a transfer by ambulance to the hospital’s Emergency Department. This results in prolonged patient transfers which are not ideal for patients in need of emergency care. It also ties up an ambulance crew. With a proper helipad we could ensure these transfers are more efficient, enabling more patients to get faster treatment.
“The new helipad will also help Embrace, the regional pediatric and neonatal transfer service, to transfer sick babies and children to specialist treatment centers such as Sheffield and Leeds, using the dedicated Children’s Air Ambulance. Currently the Embrace air ambulance has to land on the Millennium Business Park in Steeton, meaning a poorly child has to be transferred by ambulance to the business park. An on-site helipad would mean that children could be transferred directly into the air ambulance and will benefit the paediatric and neonatal population that our hospital serves.”
You can read more on the Airedale Hospital NHS Trust website
The Area Partnership Group (unions)
Union representatives meet with Partnership colleagues to discuss arrangements being put in place for the White Paper proposals, colleague’s health and wellbeing and partnership staff campaigns.
Diabetes Week 14 to 20 June 2021
The partnership is set to support Diabetes Week 2021 which will be happening next week 2021. We’d love you to join in too.
We’ve created a communications resource page on our website just for partner colleagues to use. Resources include a video animation which we are encouraging GP practices and anyone who works with people at risk of diabetes to share with patients. Recently. we’ve added a guide for general practice to invite eligible patients to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP). We’ll also be adding a new video featuring Dr James Thomas, Clinical Chair for the CCG and chair of WY&H HCP Clinical Forum who offers some top tips to fellow GP practices to increase referrals to the NDPP.
Diabetes Week is an annual campaign organised by the charity Diabetes UK and devoted to raising awareness of diabetes and raising money to help fund research into the condition. For more information see the news release on our website. If you struggle to access any of the resources or want any more information about the partnership’s plans, please email: donna.