Bay Health and Care Partners Stakeholder Newsletter Issue 9

Date posted: 2nd March 2022

Welcome to the ninth 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. Firstly, we would like to thank our teams across Morecambe Bay for navigating through the storms that hit us at the end of February. Colleagues faced power cuts across the region and our ambulance, community nursing, GPs, care colleagues and third sector and voluntary teams faced challenging conditions when out visiting people in their homes and community settings. You have all done an amazing job facing these additional pressures as well as the current system pressures. The Prime Minister recently announced fresh guidance around coronavirus restrictions which you can read here.

People on the waiting list for NHS care across Morecambe Bay will be able to access support and check wait times at their fingertips thanks to a new online platform which launched on Thursday 24 February 2022. Built in conjunction with patient groups, My Planned Care is one of the latest measures in a major package of moves by the NHS to tackle the covid backlog. You can access services for UHMBT here.

We would like to draw your attention to the policy paper for health and social care integration which is focused on joining up people, places and populations. The BHCP leadership team is currently taking time to review the paper and what this means for our Placed-Based Partnership. You can read the full paper here.

Volunteers have played a really important part in helping us to deliver services over the years and many people who were volunteering during the pandemic have since had to go back to full-time employment meaning the number of volunteers in the area has hit an all-time low. Voluntary, Community, Social, Faith and Enterprise (VCSFE) organisations in Lancashire and South Cumbria have issued a call to action asking local people to get volunteering. You can find out more about voluntary opportunities at the Cumbria CVS website here and the Lancaster CVS website here. Bay Volunteers is also appealing for volunteers and you can watch the appeal video on Facebook here.

You may remember from Issue 6 of the newsletter, that a public consultation was taking place around the future of the provision of community-based adult healthcare service in South Lakeland. The Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Governing Body met on 15 February 2022 and improved a decision to invest in the development of services in the community. The Governing Body approved a recommendation to support the re-distribution of the existing resource utilised on the Langdale Unit, as described in Option 3, and requested that commissioners work in partnership with key stakeholders to design and deliver the new service model. You can find out more at the CCG website here.

Dr Geoff Jolliffe and Prof Mike Thomas, Joint Chairs 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 are highlighting the 'Let's Talk Digital' engagement project. We are inviting patients, carers, service users and the public to share your stories, ideas and questions at the ‘Let’s Talk Digital’ page until Friday 25 March 2022. If you haven’t already, you will need to register at the Let’s Talk Morecambe Bay site here to access the Let’s Talk Digital page. You can read the full article at the BHCP website here.


Listening to our communities 

he voices of our communities are central to our new way of working. Here we will highlight the work that is ongoing to support migrant workers in Grange and Lakes.

The Grange and Lakes Integrated Care Community (ICC) and Primary Care Network has been undertaking a health inequalities project to explore why migrant workers in the area are not engaging with health and care services that they are eligible to access.

You can read the story at the BHCP website here.


GP focus with Dr Alison Bateman

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.

This month, Dr Alison Bateman, Associate GP at Queen Square Medical Practice in Lancaster, shares advice and support on endometriosis in advance of Endometriosis Awareness month (March 2022). You can read the full article at the BHCP website here.

 


The spotlight on...

Every month we will feature a different voluntary, community or faith sector organisation across the Bay. This time the spotlight is on…Morecambe Bay Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group.

Morecambe Bay Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group was set up by Wendy Jones, Regional Support Coordinator for Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis, in May 2021 as a lasting legacy to her mum Diana Jones who died from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). IPF is a devastating and fatal lung disease that kills over 5,000 people per year in the UK. The cause of IPF is unknown and there is no cure at present. The group is supported by Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis.

You can read the full case study at the BHCP website here. You can read Diana's story 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.

Keeley Wilkinson has been a Young People’s Engagement Officer for the past two years. Keeley’s role is based within Lancaster City Council’s Community Connectors Team. The Community Connectors aim to connect residents with services within the council and make the council more accessible. 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.

In this edition, we would like to highlight a programme led by Lancaster and Morecambe ICCs and partners which aims to help people in Morecambe and Lancaster to reduce their blood pressure.

You can read more at the BHCP website here. The latest editions of the ICCs' newsletters can be read here.


Top stories from our partners 


Thank you for reading our latest edition!

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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