Agenda item

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director – People, which shared with them Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).  Simon Banks, Chief Officer, Halton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) gave a presentation to Members which provided an overview of the STP.

Members were reminded of the NHS Five Year Forward View, published in October 2014, which set out strategic intentions to ensure the NHS remained clinically and financially sustainable.   The Forward View highlighted three key areas:

·       The health and wellbeing of the population;

·       The quality of care that was provided; and

·       NHS finance and efficiency of services.

Following this the 2015/16 NHS planning guidance set out the steps for local health systems to deliver the Five Year Forward View, backed up by a new Sustainability and Transformation Fund intended to support financial balance and to enable new investment in key priorities.  As part of the planning process, health and care systems were asked to develop Sustainability and Transformation Plans, to cover the period from 2016/17 and 2020/21.

The four key priorities for the Cheshire and Merseyside STP were presented:

·       Support for people to live better quality lives by actively promoting health and wellbeing;

·       The NHS working with partners in local government and the voluntary sector to develop joined up care;

·       Designing hospital services to meet modern clinical standards and reducing variation in quality; and

·       Becoming more efficient by reducing costs, maximising value and using the latest technology.

It was noted that the Cheshire and Merseyside STP was submitted to NHS England on 12 October 2016 and following its review by NHS England, was published on 16 November 2016.

Members were advised that the Cheshire and Merseyside STP was designed to address the challenges of the region in terms of population health and wellbeing, quality of care and financial sustainability.  The majority of delivery would be through the plans developed by the three local delivery systems.  It was noted that Halton CCG was part of the Alliance Local Delivery System (LDS) which consisted of:

·       Four CCG’s (Warrington, St. Helens, Halton and Knowsley);

·       Five NHS providers (5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; Bridgewater Community NHS Foundation Trust; St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals; Warrington and Halton Hospital Foundation Trust and Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals).

It was reported that the Alliance LDS was also engaging with local authorities covering the Boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, St.Helens and Warrington.  The Alliance LDS built upon the work already being done at a local level and the proposals submitted by Alliance LDS included options and models of transformation for the local health system that aimed to address a finding shortfall of £202m, whilst at the same time improving health, wellbeing and outcomes.

It was noted that following formal publication of the Cheshire and Merseyside STP the proposals were now being developed into outline plans and a wide scale programme of engagement and communication would commence during 2017.

The presentation outlined to the Board the progress to date in Halton which included a local picture of how the LDS proposals built upon what was already planned and happening in Halton, including examples of how the LDS would positively impact on Halton residents.

Members welcomed the presentation and commented that they understood the need for collaboration in these difficult times. 

The use and promotion of the Urgent Care Centres was discussed and the Chair commented that she hoped to invite representatives from the Centres to a Board meeting in the future.

RESOLVED:  That the Board

1)    notes the content of the Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP); and

2)    notes the commitment to continued local engagement and the requirement to comply with statutory requirements for public involvement.