NHS Assembly Bulletin - Issue 1, 24 October 2019
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This bulletin replaces the previous Assembly briefings and will be issued shortly after each Assembly meeting to bring you up to date with Assembly news and activity.
Announcements
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For a real flavour of what the NHS Assembly is working on, listen to our podcast which includes clips from the live discussion and interviews with presenters and Assembly members. The podcast is available on Soundcloud and our website. You can also search for NHS England and NHS Improvement podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Tune In.
Introduction from Assembly Co-Chair Clare Gerada
Hello and welcome to the first NHS Assembly Bulletin. I’m Dr Clare Gerada, GP and Co-Chair of the NHS Assembly.
The Assembly is still in its early days and we are listening to the members about how they want things to proceed. We know that the Assembly is gaining traction in its influence – only last month Chris and myself co-signed a letter in favour of legislative changes that will reduce competition and increase collaboration in the NHS, which was included in the recent Queen’s speech.This we did as the Co-Chairs of the Assembly, following discussion about these proposals at the first Assembly meeting back in April 2019.
The latest meeting (the third time the Assembly has met) was held as part of Health and Care Innovation Expo, which took place on 5 September 2019 in Manchester. This was my first visit to Expo and it was such a pleasure to see so many people dedicated to making the NHS the best it can be. It also gave the Assembly the opportunity to engage with a wider group of delegates, something we’re looking to do more of.
I was pleased that the main NHS Assembly meeting had a focus on shared responsibility. I have always spoken about the role of a good GP as being twofold, on the one hand it is addressing the needs of their patients in the consulting room, and on the other it is to use their skills of health and social care to address the needs of their patient population.
We heard how those who are taking a whole system approach can certainly serve as role models - breaking down barriers between health, social care, education, and other major areas to really make a difference. Our last discussion was on the ‘B’ issue - Brexit - not I hasten to add debates around whether, why and when, but about NHS preparedness and what we as Assembly members could do to support the NHS in its endeavours, irrespective of what emerges later this month.
I look forward to seeing you all again in December 2019. Until then, keep well.
Highlights from the third NHS Assembly meeting - 5 September 2019
Shared Responsibility
The NHS Long Term Plan (1.38) states: “For many health conditions, people are already taking control themselves supplemented with expert advice and peer support in the community and online. As part of a wider move to what The King’s Fund has called ‘shared responsibility for health’, over the next five years the NHS will ramp up support for people to manage their own health.”
We all share responsibility for improving the health of society, the NHS and the public. In its report, The King’s Fund asserts that “for this to happen, all involved must fundamentally change their behaviours and attitudes by moving to genuine partnerships in which patients and professionals engage with each other as equals. Other public services must transform their ways of working too, involving people and communities and drawing on all the assets that exist.”
Over the summer, NHS England and NHS Improvement funded Healthwatch to hold a nationwide conversation, reaching out to every community, capturing the thoughts and ideas of local people to help shape The NHS Long Term Plan proposals. The Healthwatch report for your area is now available on the Healthwatch website.
Imelda Redmond, Director of Healthwatch England told the Assembly about this engagement exercise and how, through this work, relationships between Healthwatch and local health systems have strengthened. Simon Enright, Director of Communications at NHS England and NHS Improvement, caught up with Imelda after her session and the interview is available on Soundcloud.
Population Health - Working with our communities
The NHS Long Term Plan commits:
(1.4) “Local NHS organisations will increasingly focus on population health and local partnerships with local authority-funded services, through new Integrated Care Systems (ICSs)…”
(5.26) "During 2019, we will deploy population health management solutions to support ICSs to understand the areas of greatest health need and match NHS services to meet them."
The Assembly heard how two different health systems are working with their communities to better support people to stay healthy. We took the opportunity of being in Manchester to catch up on how this work is going in Greater Manchester.
Sarah Price, Executive Lead for population health in the Greater Manchester Partnership described Greater Manchester’s approach to population health and how they are starting to make the most of the opportunities of devolution to place transforming health and reducing inequalities at the heart of all policies and strategies across the Greater Manchester region. Find out more about how things are progressing in Greater Manchester in their report Transforming the health of our population in Greater Manchester – a report on progress and next steps.
Assembly member Dr Andy Knox, GP and Director of Population Health for the Morecambe Bay Health and Care System, shared his experience of working “together with” the community, challenging Assembly members to think about the culture shift required to build trusting relationships with local people. Reflecting on the work of the Marmot Review he concluded that we need to move from responsibility to participation, as we want people to participate in their own health.
You can hear extracts from Andy’s talk, and his reflections following the session on the latest NHS Assembly podcast. You can find out more about population health by visiting our website.
Spreading innovation
There was a full house for the Expo session on spreading innovation, hosted by Assembly members Richard Stubbs, Niall Dickson and Shafi Ahmed. Whilst always being innovative and adaptable, the NHS has historically struggled to achieve large-scale change across the whole system. You can hear more about what we mean by “innovation” in our podcast.
The session explored the role of innovation in transforming our services and aimed to better understand how, working through the Assembly, we can practically but radically support the removal of barriers to the adoption of best practice within the NHS.
Participants discussed how far innovations should be made compulsory of systems when they are proven to be effective; what we expect from the NHS leader of the future and how to change the education and undergraduate process to create a workforce ready to drive and embrace innovation. They also discussed how we develop a better relationship between the service and industry so we work more effectively to bring innovation to patients.
In 2013, NHS England established 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) to spread innovation at scale and pace. Listen to Richard Stubbs, CEO of the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Network, share a real life example of how, with the right support, innovation can be spread across health systems.
EU Exit
It will be no surprise that one of the areas that the Assembly wanted to look at was how the NHS preparations for leaving the EU were progressing. Professor Keith Willett, Strategic Commander for EU Exit at NHS England and NHS Improvement, talked to the Assembly about how his team have been working with the Department of Health and Social Care to make sure the NHS is as prepared as possible for any scenario.
Listen to our podcast to find out what happened when Simon Enright, Director of Communications at NHS England and NHS Improvement, caught up with Keith after his session. You can find out more detailed information on how to prepare for Brexit on the Gov.UK website.
About the Assembly
The Assembly is co-chaired by Dr Clare Gerada and Professor Sir Chris Ham and has a membership of 56 individuals drawn from across the health and care sectors.
The membership brings broad stakeholder insight and frontline experience to discussions, serving as a “guiding coalition” on implementation of the improvements outlined in The NHS Long Term Plan.
The next NHS Assembly meeting will take place in early December 2019.
Keep up to date with Assembly news
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Contact us at england.nhsassembly@nhs.net