WIREDGOV

The NHS Five Year Forward View partners have recently (31 July 2015) published an initial support package for the new models of care vanguards which were launched in March 2015.

The 29 vanguards, local NHS and care consortiums which are leading on developing new and better ways of providing care to act as blueprints for the NHS in England, were selected following a rigorous process involving patients, clinicians and peer review, and will initially improve the care provided to more than five million people.

Following extensive engagement with the vanguard leaders, including two-day visits to all 29 sites in April and May and follow-up discussions and seminars, a support package has now been developed to enable them to make the changes they want to make effectively and at pace.

Building on the best practice already being displayed, the support package is designed to be led by vanguard leaders alongside national experts, and aims to help the vanguards be as successful as possible in making the changes they are planning.

It is also intended to maximise sharing of learning and practice across the 29 vanguards and, importantly, with the wider NHS and care system – a key element of the vanguards’ work.

The support package, which covers 2015/16, focuses on eight areas:

• Designing new care models – working with the vanguards to develop their local model of care, maximising the greatest impact and value for patients;
• Evaluation and metrics – supporting the vanguards to understand – on an ongoing basis – the impact their changes are having on patients, staff and the wider population;
• Integrated commissioning and provision – assisting the vanguards to break down the barriers which prevent their local health system from developing integrated  commissioning;
• Empowering patients and communities – working with the vanguards to enhance the way in which they work with patients, local people and communities to develop services;
• Harnessing technology – supporting the vanguards to rethink how care is delivered, given the potential of digital technology to deliver care in radically different ways.  It will also help organisations to more easily share patient information;
• Workforce redesign – supporting the vanguards to develop a modern, flexible workforce which is organised around patients and their local populations;
• Local leadership and delivery – working with the vanguards to develop leadership capability and learn from international experts, and;
• Communications and engagement – supporting the vanguards to demonstrate best practice in the way they engage with staff, patients and local people.

A number of dedicated workstreams – which will be led by a vanguard leader and national subject matter expert – will work with the vanguards to refine what is being offered so that it is fully tailored to their needs.

In addition to the practical support outlined in the new document, vanguards also have access to the £200m Transformation Fund.  Over the last two weeks, the following funding has been earmarked for 2015/16 for three of the first 29 vanguards:

• Better Health and Care for Sunderland – £6.5 million;
• Northumberland Accountable Care Organisation – £8.3 million;
• South Somerset Symphony Programme – £4.9 million.

A further £41m has been approved in principle for the following vanguards: Better Care Together (Morecambe); Better Local Care (Southern Hampshire); My Life a Full Life (Isle of Wight); Salford Together; and, Wirral Partners.  To be finalised in August.

Funding for other vanguards will be approved over the coming months.

NHS England Chief Executive, Simon Stevens, said: “Led by doctors, nurses and other staff, as well as patients and community groups, the vanguards are being asked to radically redesign the way they provide care.  The support package has been designed with and for the vanguards.  It provides them with additional tools to move at pace and, importantly, to remove barriers that stop them from delivering the best possible care to patients.”

Samantha Jones, New Care Models Programme Director, said: “A key focus of the support package is how we spread good practice between the vanguards, as well as across the wider NHS and social care community.  In addition, it reverses the ‘top-down’ approach by empowering the vanguards to commission the national NHS bodies to support them.”

Jim Mackey is Chief Executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, a partner in the Northumberland Accountable Care Organisation vanguard. He said: “We have been heavily involved in helping to design the initial support package and look forward to shaping it further as we move forward.  We have a very strong track record of working together in Northumberland and welcome this opportunity to think innovatively about how we can further integrate health and social care to create services which are fit for the changing needs of our aging population and the challenges facing the NHS.”

Dr Nick Harding OBE, GP and partner at Handsworth Wood Medical Centre and part of the Vitality vanguard, said: “We welcome the publication of the support package.  It will help us to transfer more power to patients, to redesign our workforce, and to rethink how care is delivered by harnessing the benefits of digital and other technology.”

Support for more-recently announced vanguards – acute care collaboration (ACC) vanguards and urgent and emergency care (UEC) vanguards – will be published in November 2015.