This week's leadership messages come from Rob Webster and Ali Bishop, and our blog is from Vicky Donnelly

Posted on: 16 August 2024

This week's leadership message comes from Rob Webster, Chief Executive of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and CEO lead for the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership. We also have blogs from Ali Bishop, Equality Diversity Inclusion Transformation Lead for NHS West Yorkshire ICB, and Vicky Donnelly, Strategic Health Facilitator for the Learning Disabilities Health Support Team at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Standing together as global citizens with our international colleagues

Rob Webster

The last few weeks have seen shameful scenes of violence, fuelled by racism and Islamophobia. The impact this is having on you, our staff, those across our wider partnership and all our communities has been clear from your stories and the conversations we have been having together. The recent call with 300 colleagues was one I will never forget.

Thank you to everyone who has publicly and privately described the fear and distress they feel. The impact on so many of our colleagues and our local communities is being felt in many different ways. Thank you also to those who have stood up to the issues in our communities and reflected the values to which we aspire.

Earlier this week, Fatima Khan-Shah, Inclusivity Champion for the ICB and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, led some additional safe space conversations. Staff from across West Yorkshire, including our voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, came together to share their latest, often horrifying experiences. I was particularly saddened to hear about the abuse that many of our international colleagues are seeing, receiving and feeling, on their way to and from work or at their home address.

To our international colleagues, my message is simple: You belong here, you enrich what we do and you help make West Yorkshire the system it is today. We stand with you and will always support you.

Our values as a Partnership champion equality, diversity and inclusion. We stand in solidarity with all those impacted by the violence and public unrest. We are a system of sanctuary, an anti-racist system that stands for what’s right. We see our diversity as our strength, and we will always stand against those who seek to undermine our people and our communities. We are committed to being a great global citizen.

I am pleased that both Tim Gill and Jonathan Brown, leading our Global Partnerships team in West Yorkshire, are working with the NHS England Global Health Unit on a programme of work that supports our commitment to being a great global citizen. Our team has recently attempted to define what this means for us in West Yorkshire:

"Global citizenship is a way of working which recognises that organisations belong to multiple and diverse, local and international networks with a responsibility towards individuals and communities situated outside one’s own. Working as a global citizen involves being aware of oneself within the world and its issues; having concern and respect for others, and their society and culture; and actively engaging with a civic responsibility to improve local and global challenges collaboratively.

Therefore, to be a good global citizen, we commit to working in an ethical, sustainable, and inclusive manner in order to evolve health and social care and tackle its challenges both within the UK and internationally."

West Yorkshire has developed unique partnerships with the Government of Kerala, India, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines which are focused on ethical pathways for people migrating to West Yorkshire NHS or social care roles. These pathways focus on the full journey of an individual and possibly their family to new jobs and lives here.

We are working collaboratively across the partnership to share best practice on international recruitment, improve the experience of people arriving and give them the best chance to settle and stay for as long as they wish. Our partnerships with Kerala and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will be deepened with West Yorkshire-specific global fellowships, which will help us address some of our shared challenges.

Keralan delegate with the LMNS team at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust

The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) partnership with the Uganda Ministry of Health on maternal and neonatal health is a great example of how we can collaborate virtually to share experiences, clinical practice and learn how to improve health outcomes in different settings.

We will soon be taking some of this global learning into new areas aimed at improving the experiences of international medical graduates and sharing good practice across other professional groups and networks across the West Yorkshire partnership.

Our international people and partnerships bring valuable learning and new ways of working that will continue to make us stronger. And despite the horrific incidents that have and continue to take place locally and across the country, we will continue to work together to strengthen our solidarity even further.

I am looking forward to seeing how our West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership is strengthened in the future by standing together as global citizens, working to improve the experience and outcomes for all our people.

Thank you for your commitment, courage and determination.

Rob

Are you afraid to go out tonight because of the colour of your skin? No? Then this message is for you.

Thank you for standing in solidarity with your colleagues. Racism is more than what you see. Let's root it out.

Hello, my name is Ali.

We are all aware of the horrendous acts of Islamophobia, racism, rioting, violence and threats of violence that have taken place over the last two weeks against our black and brown, especially Muslim, colleagues and friends.

I work in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). At West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) we are currently developing a new EDI Strategy, but I am left questioning what point is there of any of it, if our colleagues do not feel our support at times like these.

I have had the privilege to be on many ‘safe space’ calls over the last week, and have heard first-hand of the horrific time many colleagues from across the system are having. They are scared, they are broken, they are exhausted, and they are emotionally drained. They are traumatised, they do not feel safe, they have been triggered and they feel ‘othered'. And for some they are thinking of leaving or questioning if this really is home. Their energies are going in to protecting their families, friends and communities, and they have nothing left.

I have heard from colleagues who have felt pressured or been told to come into the office when they are scared to use public transport. Some have been told to ‘just get on with it’ as ‘it’s over now’.

I have heard about leaders that have left it to victims to write the communications statements and colleagues who have had to fight for them to use the word ‘Islamophobia’.

I have heard from colleagues who’ve been met with silence, as we haven’t known what to say.

I have heard from colleagues who have been left second guessing what we really think about them and their right to exist.

And this hasn’t gone away. Whilst the riots may have stopped for now, the racism is still very much alive, and many are living through it every day.

It is down to us, those of us privileged to not have different coloured skin, to fight for our colleagues and to be true allies. To move from meaning well to doing well. To do something, not just talk. To make a difference not just sympathise. We cannot leave it to the victims to lead this fight and do the work.

There is some work we can do straight away. Some have started conversations with strangers. At the ICB, like other partners, we have decided to develop an allyship network. Many colleagues have talked about adopting small acts of kindness.

And there is more to do:

WE need to recognise our privilege and WE need to use our privilege and our power and WE need to lead this movement of change.
WE need to call it out when we see it. We cannot afford to be indifferent in this space.
WE need to reach out and check on our colleagues and teams and WE need to be prepared to be uncomfortable hearing the answers.
WE need to be better at having conversations, even if we agree to disagree.
And WE need to talk about race.

Thanks for reading,

Ali

Vicky Donnelly, Strategic Health Facilitator, Learning Disabilities Health Support Team, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust

Vicky Donnelly

Hello, my name is Vicky Donnelly, Strategic Health Facilitator, Learning Disabilities Health Support Team, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Earlier this summer, I visited Eccleshill Village Surgery in Bradford to talk about supporting their patients with learning disabilities, including having conversations about cancer screening, hospital passports, and annual health checks (AHCs).

Part of my role as clinical lead for learning disabilities is to support primary care in working with their patients with learning disabilities. This includes monitoring and helping practices improve the uptake and quality of the annual health checks that they offer to people on their learning disability register, in order to reduce health inequalities for people and to meet the NHS England target of 75% of people on the register receiving their annual health check every year.

At the end of the reporting year for 2023/24, 82% of people in Bradford District and Craven had a health check, which was great news. However, a few practices had struggled to achieve this target, so I contacted them individually to see if there was anything I could do to help. Dr Hamdani’s practice replied quickly and I visited the surgery and met with the team. The practice had had some staffing issues but had now increased the hours for one person so they could specifically make phone contact with people who were due their health checks and then carry these out face to face.

Within the first quarter of this year, they have already seen over half the people on their registers and were well on target. We discussed the need for conversations about cancer screening, giving people their health action plans, flu vaccinations, hospital passports and any concerns that staff might have about the annual health check template. The team uses the learning disabilities data dashboard to check who needs additional phone calls to offer health advice and they attend the learning disabilities primary care champions meetings every quarter. The staff had also completed the e-learning for the Oliver McGowan training so had an awareness of the reasonable adjustments they could provide to their patients with learning disabilities or who are autistic. It was great to meet the team and see the good work they were now doing to reduce the health inequalities that people with learning disabilities can often face.

From the wider West Yorkshire perspective, NHS England data shows that some places are not meeting the 75% trajectory, so we have been unpicking this, as locally practices are meeting trajectories and sometimes more. One of the reasons was because some practices were not registered on the national scheme, so their figures weren’t counted nationally or receiving payment. Places are working with their local practices to make them aware, however, there may always be a slight difference due to collection times of data. Our latest figures look more in line so we think it is working – thank you to everyone involved in this effort.

Thank you for reading

Vicky

What else has been happening this week?

Setting the standard for Healthcare Excellence

HSJ Awards 2024 logo We are delighted that West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) collaborative initiatives have been shortlisted for the Health Service Journal awards, for their outstanding contribution to healthcare.

Two projects, both shortlisted in the medicines, pharmacy and prescribing initiative of the year award category, include:

Working with lead provider Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) and primary care colleagues to develop an integrated approach to improving lipid optimisation – important in the prevention of cardiovascular disease
A rapid point of care test to support diagnosis and appropriate antibiotic prescribing initiative led by Calderdale Cares Partnership together with the ICB and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber. A simple finger pin-prick blood test is used to identify if the patient has a viral or bacterial infection within 10 minutes

Congratulations and good luck to all other shortlisted West Yorkshire organisations and partners, which include:

Better Start Bradford - Little Minds Matter (Early Intervention and Prevention for Children, Young People and Families Award)
Bradford District Care Foundation Trust - keeping my chest healthy pathway and digital hub (Innovation and Improvement in Reducing Health Care Inequalities Award)
Bradford District Care Foundation Trust and Craven Health and Care Partnership - Well Being Network (Innovation and Improvement in Reducing Health Care Inequalities Award)
Bradford District Care Foundation Trust - Future Focus (Mental Health Innovation of the Year Award)
Calderdale Cares Community Collaborative - Calderdale Cares Ageing Well Project (Place Based Partnership and Integrated Care Award)
Calderdale Cares Community Collaborative - Calderdale Cares Ageing Well Project (Data Driven Transformation Award)
Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust - NPIC digital pathology deployment (Modernising Diagnostics Award)
South West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust - perinatal mental health service’s peer support team who provide care and treatment for women with complex mental health needs. Over 1,000 women access the perinatal service yearly across Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield (Mental Health Innovation of the Year Award)
Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership - Wakefield Families Together: integrated and holistic pathways to support children and young people's health and wellbeing needs (Early Intervention and Prevention for Children, Young People and Families Award)

The next stage will involve presenting the projects to a judging panel in October with the award winners announced at a special ceremony in November 2024.

NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission (T2DR) programme works at scale

A major study has found that a third of NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission (T2DR) programme participants are in remission from type 2 diabetes in a year. The study showed that of those who completed the programme and were measured twice, 1 in 3 (32%) had put their type 2 diabetes into remission, with an average weight loss in these participants of nearly 16kg. Read more on the NHS news pages.

In West Yorkshire we are consistently exceeding national monthly referral targets to the programme. Between February and July 2024 we referred 465 people. The 12-month programme, which used to be known as the NHS Low Calorie Diet programme, helps kickstart weight loss by providing participants with low calorie, nutritionally complete, total diet replacement products. Participants are then supported to reintroduce healthy, nutritious food into their diet to maintain weight loss, and their progress is monitored.

Learn more in a video which captures patient experiences as part of the Re:Mission evaluation study funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Congratulations to Get Set Goal

People smiling under sign that says Health and Wellbeing Academy Get Set Goal, one of our partners who support our Find Out How You Really Are campaign, has won a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE). As part of the campaign, the students are providing free health checks to cricket fans at Headingley and rugby league fans at Huddersfield Giants, Castleford Tigers, Bradford Bulls and Halifax Panthers.

Get Set Goal is part of the University of Huddersfield’s Health and Wellbeing Academy and works with local organisations to help address health inequalities in some of the most challenging socio-economic areas in the UK. Read more on the University of Huddersfield news pages.

Yorkshire and Humber Care Record: primary care pilot now live to close data gaps and improve patient care

Five Towns and Trinity primary care networks (PCNs) in Wakefield District became the first PCNs to connect to the Yorkshire and Humber Care Record (YHCR) to view patient data via SystmOne. The YHCR is a digital shared care record solution across West Yorkshire.

It enables patient information from multiple services (hospital trusts, community healthcare and social services) to be accessed securely on one platform. By linking information systems, the YHCR enables appropriate health and care staff to access health and care information in real-time, at the point of care. A phased approach has been taken with the roll out of the YHCR across general practice in West Yorkshire, with plans to further roll out access throughout 2024.