IN-DEPTH: IMPROVING HEALTHCARE WORKING T


he north west London sustainability and


transformation plan is a new opportunity to set out a clear vision for how we can work together to improve health and care for our diverse population of around 2 million people. The plan, developed with input from NHS commissioners and providers, local authorities and social care providers, patients and a range of other stakeholders, responds to the three key challenges facing us – how to bridge the: • health and wellbeing gap – for example, one in five children aged four to five in our area are overweight


• care and quality gap – for example, a third of patients currently in our acute hospitals could be better cared for in the community or at home


• financial and efficiency gap – there will be a shortfall of £1.3 billion by 2021 if we continue with our current model of care.


“Sustainability and transformation plans – or STPs – are essentially intended to sit above all the various plans and programmes of health and care organisations within a given area – determining shared priorities and actions to enable us to provide the right care and support to help people stay as healthy as possible, and to minimise the amount of time they need to spend in hospital if they do need an inpatient stay,” explains Dr Tracey Batten, Trust chief executive and provider lead for the north west London STP.


“While we’ve not yet got a complete consensus across health and social care organisations in north west London on the best way forward, there has been significant progress in collaborative working on the ground that is already delivering improvements


Autumn 2016


TOGETHER


for local people. And, while we need to submit our first full plan to NHS England in October, this is really the start of the journey, not the end.” The STP for north west London focuses on five key ‘delivery’ areas: • prevention and wellbeing • better management of long-term conditions


• improving outcomes for older people • improving outcomes for children and adults with mental health needs


• delivery of high quality, safe and sustainable acute services. A number of cross-organisational groups are being established, involving a wide range of clinicians and health and care managers as well as patients and other stakeholders, to understand and help coordinate the detailed activities under each delivery area. All staff – and patients and local residents – will have the chance to shape the developments and initiatives most relevant to them, whether that’s how we move towards ‘accountable care’ or how we progress the redesign of specific services.


The north west London STP also provides some greater clarity on one of the more controversial areas of service change in north west London – the future model of care for Charing Cross Hospital.


STPs – sustainability and transformation plans – are in the media spotlight. What is our STP really all about?


“As part of the STP development, a commitment was made to review the assumptions underpinning ‘shaping a healthier future’ plans for acute services across north west London and to progress with the delivery of local services before making any further changes,” Dr Batten adds. “NHS partners also committed to work jointly with local communities and councils to agree a model of acute service provision that addresses clinical quality and safety concerns and expected demand pressures. Therefore, the STP, which covers the five years to 2021, does not include changes to Charing Cross A&E department.”


The sustainability plan for north west London is available by visiting healthiernorthwestlondon.nhs.uk.


THE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ·


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NHS England has asked all NHS and local government health and care organisations across England to be part of sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) – place- based, five-year blueprints for the accelerated implementation of its Five Year Forward View.


The north west London STP is one of 44 STP ‘footprints’ across England.


NHS England has also established a sustainability and transformation fund, which is gradually increasing in size to be worth £3.4bn by 2020/21. STPs will be the single application and approval process for being accepted on to programmes with transformation funding from 2017/18.


Draft STPs were submitted to NHS England in June 2016 and our first full plans are expected to be finalised from October.


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