Setting shared priorities
Following a series of events and workshops – involving staff, partners, leaders and patient representatives from across the north east and north Cumbria – the senior management team for our aspiring integrated care system (ICS) has agreed the following overarching priorities:
- Improving population health and preventing ill health
- Optimising health services – specifically through ensuring high quality standards across all services and delivering safe and sustainable care in the most appropriate setting
- Digital transformation – making the best use of technology, data and IT to ensuring efficient and effective services
- Workforce transformation – identify how doctors, nurses and other health and care professionals can work across organisations and sites, particularly hospital and community services; support and train staff to work differently; retain our existing workforce and jointly address recruitment challenges.
- Mental health – improve access to services and standards of care.
- Learning disabilities – improve quality of care, waiting times and outcomes for patients.
Senior leaders from clinical commissioning groups, NHS hospital trusts, NHS England and NHS Improvement are working to agree measurable objectives which the whole health system will work towards under the above themes. These objectives will need to be agreed and refined with local authorities and other partners to ensure a fully collaborative approach to delivery.