Bay Health and Care Partners Stakeholder Newsletter Issue 15 graphic.png

Bay Health and Care Partners Stakeholder Newsletter Issue 15

30th August 2022

Welcome to the fifteenth edition of our Bay Health and Care Partners (BHCP) newsletter where we will update you every month on the collaborative work that is taking place in Morecambe Bay’s Place-Based Partnership and the outcomes and benefits for communities. 

I would like to start this month’s newsletter by highlighting a review that has been carried out by NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB). The review explored the option of aligning the Place-Based Partnerships to the local authority boundaries to promote and enable deeper integration and collaboration with health and social care in order to improve population health, hospital flow and discharges into the community. The board of NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria made a decision based on a paper setting out recommendations following the review. The paper can be found online in the ICB board papers. papers.

It is great news that four new directors have recently been appointed by the ICB with the responsibility of improving health and wellbeing across the Place-Based Partnerships. The new directors are Claire Richardson for Blackburn with Darwen, Karen Smith for Blackpool (interim), Jane Scattergood for South Cumbria and Louise Taylor for Lancashire. You can read more about the new appointments at the ICB website here. 

I’m delighted to announce that BHCP is launching a new series of films discussing health issues, symptoms to look out for and where to go and get professional advice. The ‘Time to talk?’ series led by two local GPs aims to highlight some common problems, as well as some of the more obscure issues that people might face. You can watch the first video in the series about Male Breast Cancer at the BHCP YouTube site here.

I would like to draw your attention to a project that Healthwatch Together (HWT) is currently undertaking around the Covid-19 vaccine. HWT wants to hear your experience of the Covid vaccination programme to support the NHS in understanding why some people chose to have the vaccine and why others decided against having it and whether this was due to personal choice or other factors. You can take the survey here. 

I would recommend reading an update by Lauren Butler, SRO Workforce Lead, about BHCP's workforce prioritisation. The article looks at challenges faced, our approach taken and the outcome. You can read the article at the WRaPT website here. 

To close, I must commend the innovative work that is happening in Lancashire and South Cumbria which is set to revolutionise NHS pathology deliveries. Drone technology is set to be introduced to deliver medical samples between selected hospital sites. University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust have teamed up with Digital and Future Technologies and Miralis Data Limited to deliver the 20-month project. You can read the full story here.

Prof Mike Thomas, Chair for BHCP

Partners transforming services

Every month we will explore a different area of our programmes of work that are transforming services. This month, we focus on the Morecambe Bay Respiratory Network (MBRN) summer conference which brought together over 50 colleagues from primary care, local hospitals and the community who are involved in managing patients with long-term respiratory disease. You can read the full story at the BHCP website here. 

Listening to our communities

The voices of our communities are central to our new way of working. In this edition, we feature a blog on a social prescribing singing project 'Music for Health' led by More Music. More Music was funded by Spirit of 2012 as part of the Music Challenge Fund. The project followed a social prescribing model, using singing to treat mental health conditions and low wellbeing in participants. You can read the full blog by Anna Daly from More Music here. 

Always Hopeful Domestic Violence Training 

A free safeguarding training course with a focus on domestic violence will take place on Friday 9 September 2022 from 10am to 12pm at The Cornerstone, Sulyard Street, Lancaster, LA1 1PX.

The course led by Always Hopeful is for anyone working or volunteering in a church context who may need to safeguard Domestic Abuse victims and their children. Book your place here.

GP focus with Dr Richard Russell

Our GPs are an important part of Bay Health Care Partners and here our GPs and primary care colleagues have the opportunity to talk about issues and specialties that they are working on or interested in. 

To mark Orchid Male Cancer Awareness Week (12-18 September 2022), Dr Richard Russell talks to us about the causes and symptoms of prostate, penile and testicular cancer and the importance of not ignoring symptoms. You can read the full article at the BHCP website here. You can find out about Orchid Male Cancer Awareness Week here.

The spotlight on…

Every month we will feature a different voluntary, community, faith sector or Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisation across the Bay. This time the spotlight is on... Morecambe Bay Poverty Truth Commission. 

Influenced by the ground-breaking achievements of Glasgow and Leeds, and in parallel with growth of the national Poverty Truth Network, Morecambe Bay Poverty Truth Commission was founded in autumn 2016. Poverty Truth Commissions seek to discover the answer to the question, ‘what if people who struggled against poverty were involved in making decisions about tackling poverty?’ To read the full case study go to the BHCP website here.

Celebrating our teams

There are a variety of roles across BHCP and other organisations we work with in the community. Here we shine the spotlight on the people who carry out a range of roles to keep our communities healthy and supported.

Sergeant Lindsay Brown is Partnerships Officer for Lancaster and Morecambe Police. He covers the Lancaster and Morecambe local authority district which includes Carnforth, Silverdale and the Lune Valley. He works as part of the Local Policing Supervision team and the wider team of Neighbourhood Policing officers and Community Support Officers.

You can read the full case study at the BHCP website here. 

ICCs update

Our Integrated Care Communities (ICCs) are integrated teams of health and care workers, voluntary organisations and wider community assets who work together to aim to improve physical and mental health outcomes, promote wellbeing and reduce health inequalities across an entire population.

The BeWell Festival, which is part of The Bay Health Festivals, attracted around 800 people last month who took part in health and wellbeing activities. You can read the full story at the BHCP website here.

Top stories from our Partners

This newsletter is produced by the BHCP Comms and Engagement Team. If you would like to submit a story please contact Michelle Jordan, Ivan Drozdov and Karen Evans at BHCP.Communcations@mbht.nhs.uk 

You can sign up for the newsletter here or send us any feedback on it here.

You can find a PDF version of this edition of the newsletter at the 'Bay Health and Care Partners Newsletters' section of the website by clicking here. 

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