New West Yorkshire and Harrogate Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups
A new Joint Committee for the 11 clinical commissioning groups in West Yorkshire and Harrogate (WY&H) will meet for the first time in public from July 2017 and thereafter every other month.
The Committee, which is part of the WY&H Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), will have a shared health programme of work that aims to further improve the health and wellbeing of the 2.6 million people living across WY&H, regardless of age.
The WY&H Sustainability and Transformation Plan, published in November 2016, is one of 44 in England. It is delivered by local health and care organisations working together across the area to support change needed to improve services for everyone living here.
The partnership, which is made up of over 25 organisations, includes the 11 clinical commissioning groups, hospitals, mental health trusts, community and local care providers, councils, and Healthwatch.
By working together they aim to improve people’s health and wellbeing, through better coordination of services, avoiding duplication and unnecessary costs and ensuring the involvement of communities in future conversations around any proposals.
The committee will have joint delegated powers from individual CCGs to make collective decisions around specific work programmes, for example mental health, urgent care and stroke.
The Committee will work closely with partners including councils, hospitals and community and mental health trusts so that there is a clearer understanding of, and shared solutions to, health priorities to ensure better access to consistently high quality care.
Working together is not new for the clinical commissioning groups. Since their creation in 2012 they have come together to work on these important issues.
A key part of their work involves sharing expertise and working closely with local councils, hospitals, care providers and voluntary and community organisations – ensuring services are fit for the future in a challenging financial environment.
STP lead and Chief Executive of South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Rob Webster said, ‘This is a positive step for the people of WY&H and for the STP. The Committee will ensure that decisions that need to be made at a WY&H level can be made with the right clinical input and the right authority from local CCGs. These are meetings held in public chaired by a lay person, and this open approach builds on our good work with Healthwatch and local places on engaging with the public’.
The CCG Joint Committee will be chaired by Marie Burnham, an experienced and independent ‘lay’ chair and has two lay members, Fatima- Khan Shah and Richard Wilkinson. Together they bring a wealth of expertise and knowledge from health and social care, the charitable sectors and public, patient involvement.
Marie said ’I am honoured and looking forward to the responsibility of chairing our brand new Joint Committee of the 11 clinical commissioning groups. There has never been a more important time to ensure joint working and good decision making for health and care services. Providing the best health and care services to everyone living across the area is a priority to us all. I look forward to working with my fellow Committee members to achieve this’.
Jo Webster, Chief Officer for Wakefield CCG said ‘This is an important next step for the 11 CCGs and is a clear sign of the commitment to work across West Yorkshire and Harrogate. The establishment of the joint committee is the fruition of strong partnership working that we have built over the past five years. This way of working will help to ensure we have a joined up approach which allows our collective CCGs to make decisions which benefits all people living across the areas, ensuring we can tackle the health issues which are priority to all’.
Committee meetings will be filmed live and offer members of the public an opportunity to have their say and get involved. In the interest of openness and transparency information from the meeting held in public will be published at www.wyh-jointcommiteeccgs.co.uk
Future scheduled meeting dates are as follows:
Tuesday 4 July 2017
11am – 1pm
Kirkdale Room
Junction 25 Conference and Meeting Venue, Kirkdale House, Armytage Road, Brighouse, HD6 1QF
Tuesday 5 September 2017
11am – 1pm
Kirkdale Room
Junction 25 Conference and Meeting Venue, Kirkdale House, Armytage Road, Brighouse, HD6 1QF
Tuesday 7 November 2017
11am – 1pm
Kirkdale Room
Junction 25 Conference and Meeting Venue, Kirkdale House, Armytage Road, Brighouse, HD6 1QF
Further meeting dates will be announced in the coming months. To register your interest in attending these meetings please email westyorkshire.stp@nhs.net or call 01924 317502. You can also ask a question on the website at www.wyh-jointcommiteeccgs.co.uk