Winter thank you letter

At the January meeting of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), members of the Board discussed how partners across our Partnership have been coping with the seasonal increases in need for services and how colleagues have been working exceptionally hard. You can watch the web stream of the meeting held in public and read the winter planning report on our website.

With this in mind, we wanted to write and thank you for all your planning, hard work, care, and commitment so far this winter.

A substantial amount of work has gone into preparing for winter across all organisations. Our planning started in March 2023, with a review of the previous winter. The benefits of this approach and our provider collaborative arrangements across West Yorkshire and local places (Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield District) have been apparent in the subsequent months.

Keeping a focus on delivering the best care possible to people and communities whilst working incredibly hard to keep people safe and well has been challenging for all of you. This doesn’t go unnoticed.

Alongside this you have managed the impact of strike action by junior doctors in December and January and the substantial change to the ICB, including staff consultation on reduced running costs.

We have also not seen the extreme pressure on ambulance services, hospitals, and healthcare that we saw in early 2023 so far, and we can be grateful for that. You are working exceptionally hard to manage this.

Furthermore, we know that we are still experiencing constant challenges and pressures in our services across the Partnership. For example, there has been a significant increase in the need for mental health services, community care and support for children. We will not be complacent.

We appreciate everything you are all doing to support the 2.4millon people living across West Yorkshire. Without us all pulling together with care and compassion this would not be possible.

Thank you for everything you do, every day.

Yours sincerely,
Cathy Elliott, Chair of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
Cllr Tim Swift, Chair of West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board
Rob Webster CBE, CEO for NHS West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and CEO Lead for the Partnership