Obvious but not always easy
Trust is a core component of any partnership and is vital to delivering care that is integrated across the NHS, local government and the voluntary sector. So far, so good - perhaps that sounds obvious?
However, it’s not always straightforward to break down organisational boundaries and create cultures of collaboration. That said, it can be done.
Different systems have had success in building trust across organisations and multi-disciplinary teams; essentially, they’ve done this by investing in collaborative working and sharing decision making.
This is an important area that will be discussed in a free online webinar at lunchtime on 11 March 2020 , run by NHS England and NHS Improvement, but hosted by ourselves at SCIE.
The webinar is being held in Integrated Care in Action Week and has already had nearly 1,000 people register, but there’s room for more! It’ll give participants the opportunity to learn from the experiences of senior system leaders; but it will also get under the skin of those challenges and those opportunities.
Partnerships to serve communities
Taking part will be Rob Webster. Rob is Chief Executive lead of West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (an integrated care system) and Chief Executive of South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Speaking in Health Service Journal, Rob says that of course integration has its sceptics. However, he prefers to concentrate on the benefits, including the idea that new and dynamic arrangements lead to services being more flexible and more robust, serving local communities better.
When the West Yorkshire and Harrogate partnership started, it zeroed in on purpose, principles and approach, but, crucially, it also began by being clear about what it wanted to achieve.
Rob says that, even in difficult financial times, the partnership he’s involved in is going from strength-to-strength. He points to local examples of better results, including vascular care and people giving up smoking.
One important factor in this is the governance they have set up; all the partners are seen as equal and you cannot underestimate how important to this. This has helped build trust.
Behaviours and actions
Participants in the 11 March webinar will be able to hear about this type of best practice from experts like Rob. They will also hear about the behaviours and actions needed to build that trust so that good partnership working cultures are created and maintained across STPs, ICSs and primary care.
The 11 March online event is just the first of three webinars scheduled for the second Wednesday of the month in March, April and May. The webinars will feature leading subject matter experts and give colleagues working in the NHS, local authorities, and the voluntary sector the opportunity to pose questions in the ‘Chat Box’; and to learn from the speakers’ expertise and from other online delegates.
So back to the idea of trust. It’s vital that we get this right because the people who want their lives, experiences and outcomes improved depend on the whole system working. Join us at one of our webinars to find out more.