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Autumn 2015

News

In Conversation with... Dr Steven Cleasby, Calderdale

Clinical Commissioning Group

VAC’s new quality mark, Quality For Health

Calderdale Vanguard - What’s it about?

New Engagement Champions

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Choice Volunteering is a

supported volunteering

programme that helps

people who want to

volunteer but may need a

bit of extra support. Choice

can offer people one to one

support to complete forms,

accompany to interviews

arrange placements and in

some cases provide a

mentor until the person

is confident to go it alone.

Choice offers volunteering

opportunities on a number

of d i f ferent projects

including an allotment plot

at Stretchgate Lane.

A t t h e a l l o t m e n t ,

green fingered volunteers

work hard to grow healthy

food and share it with any

interested local voluntary

and community groups.

The team meet every

Thursday morning from

10am - 12pm and

maintain the allotment by

helping out with weeding,

planting and general

upkeep of the site.

If you would like to help out

on the allotment, or find out

about the other volunteering

positions available through

Choice, please contact the

Choice Worker, Audrey

Smith on 01422 438727 or

email choice@cvac.org.uk.

Choice Volunteer Wayne Simpson

Choice Project in Bloom

Welcome

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Welcome to our magazine.

Seem familiar? We thought it

was time to reintroduce this

publication to let you know in

more depth what the team at

VAC have been up to over the

past few months. We will be

sending this out every 3 months

and welcome your feedback.

If there is someone in particular

you would like us to be ‘In

Conversation With...’ (see page

3) let us know and we will

endeavour to get their story into

the magazine.

Happy reading!!

Soo

CEO, VAC

VAC News is available in both

electronic and hard copy.

To request more copies,

please call 01422 348777 or

email info@cvac.org.uk

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A brand new programme for

p e o p l e w i t h l e a r n i n g

disabilities has just completed

its initial pilot.

The Engagement Champions

programme at Volun tary

Act ion Calderdale t ra ins

r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m

Vo lun ta r y & Commun i t y

Sector groups to enable them

to carry out engagement

activities and help people

have a say abou t l oca l

healthcare developments.

C a l d e r d a l e C l i n i c a l

Commissioning Group wants

t o h e a r f r o m l o c a l

communities when they are

considering changes to local

health services. They want to

know what local people think

and about their ideas for

be t te r hea l thcare in the

future. This new training

package gives people with

learning disabilities the skills

they need to talk to their

communities and make sure

people’s voices are heard.

A l l e i gh t pa r t i c i pan t s –

representing Pennine Magpie

and Cloverleaf Advocacy -

completed the course and

were presented with their

certificates by Tim Shields,

Strategy and Performance

Manager a t Ca lderda le

C l i n i ca l C ommis s i on i n g

Group.

Tim said:-

“The Engagement Champions

Programme is a fantastic

initiative for Calderdale. It’s

r e a l l y i m p o r t a n t f o r

commissioners to hear about

the real experience of people

who use health services from

right across the community.

The Engagement Champions

Programme provides a great

platform to do this and is a

great vehicle for everyone to

share their ideas about the

future shape of services.”

Megan Vickery, Engagement

Worker at Voluntary Action

Calderdale said: -

“ T h e r e a r e a l r e a d y

Engagement Champions

representing local community

groups but we wanted to

ensure tha t peop le wi th

learning disabilities could be

involved too. It’s important

that everyone can have a say

when changes to local health

care is being considered.”

For more information about

the Engagement Champions,

p l e a s e c o n t a c t M e g a n

Vickery: call 01422 431094

Pictures

Rochelle and Tim Shields

L-R Tim, Yvonne, Lisa, Rochelle,

Malcolm, Terry, Stephen

Stephen and Tim Shields

New learning disability Engagement Champions

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What is the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)?

NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group is responsible for planning local health

services in Calderdale which covers 26 GP practices and a registered population of more than

213,000 patients. We do this by ‘commissioning’ or buying health and care services including:

Planned hospital care

Urgent and emergency care

Rehabilitation care

Community health services

Mental health and learning disability services

GP services (a recent addition to the CCG’s role )

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG’s) work with patients and health and social care

partners (e.g. local hospitals, ambulance services, local authorities, local community groups

etc) to ensure services meet local needs. The CCG board is made up of GPs from the local

area and one registered nurse and one secondary care specialist doctor, who are working

together to secure the best possible healthcare for local communities within budgets set

nationally.

What is your role within the organisation?

As a working GP in Calderdale, I bring clinical insight and the experience I have gained from

working with patients everyday to support the CCG with its commissioning responsibilities. I

am currently vice-chair for both the CCG and the Health and Wellbeing Board for Calderdale.

The ‘In Conversation with...’ section of the

magazine is all about the organisations that

Voluntary Action Calderdale and its projects work

closely with. For this edition, we spoke with Dr

Steven Cleasby who is the Assistant Clinical

Chair of the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning

Group (CCG).

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The CCG have been very supportive to the Voluntary and Community sector in

Calderdale. How important has this relationship been for the CCG’s work and

how do you see this relationship developing in the future?

The CCG has to make sure that every pound it invests in services produces the maximum

benefit for patients as well as providing good value for the taxpayer. We have been really

impressed by the range and quality of services that are provided by the voluntary and

community sector in Calderdale. The sector is a huge asset for Calderdale and we want to

see this recognised and developed further. This has been reflected by investment we have

made, with support from Voluntary Action Calderdale (VAC), to develop the capability of the

sector so it can respond to the needs of the local population and the grants the CCG has

allocated to organisations to enable them to develop their services further.

There have been a lot of exciting developments in Calderdale recently,

particularly around the new Care Closer to Home model and also Vanguard.

What will these new initiatives mean for people in Calderdale?

In response to the engagement work we have undertaken with the local population, the CCG

is developing new models of care – particularly focused on Care Closer to Home. We see

the voluntary and community sector playing a huge part in its delivery and success. We see

their particular contribution in helping people maintain their health and wellbeing as well as

being able to access the services that support them when they need them. We believe that

the third sector have a valuable and unique role to play as providers in our future models, and

we will continue to engage them in developing ‘Care Closer to Home’.

The CCG have recently funded a piece of work through our Patient Reference

Group (PRG) Support Project around Patient Experience in GP surgeries. As a

GP yourself, how do you think engaging with your patients improves the service

that the practice offers?

To ensure that the services offered by GP surgeries are meeting the needs of the local

population, it is important that those services listen to their patients. The PRG team is

supporting practices to actively use the information gathered to improve the services and care

they receive. I view it as a helpful and positive initiative.

A big thank you to Dr Cleasby.

If you would like to know more about the Calderdale CCG, please visit their website

www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk 4

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In today’s market place of complex

needs, health and social care services

are delivered by a large variety of

o rgan i sa t i ons . Vo lun ta r y and

community groups are vital to the

delivery of these services in the heart

of our communities. The statutory

sector has a duty to ensure that

services commissioned are of the right

quality.

Quality For Health is the brand new,

innovative, unique, quality assurance

system for the VCSE, developed by

Voluntary Action Calderdale and

endorsed by Calderdale CCG. It is the

only quality assurance in the country

that supports the VCSE to measure,

t h r o u g h a n o u t c o m e s - b a s e d

framework, the quality of the health

services delivered across nine quality

areas. These quality areas map across

the current strategic thinking and

operational requirements of the NHS

and the CQC.

The System

VAC have designed the system not just

to measure the quality of the health

services but also to act as framework

for the growth and development of

VCSE organisations. This has been

done by setting the framework across

three levels:

Level one forms the core of the

system, measuring all nine areas to

form a baseline. Smaller groups and

organisations may wish to remain at

level one.

Level two requires demonstration of

evidence across all nine quality areas

in a manner that demonstrates that the

organisation is growing and developing

in terms of its governance and its ability

to develop and deliver innovative and

creative health services.

Level three is expected to show

evidence that demonstrates that the

organisation is a leader and innovator

in the delivery of health services in the

VCSE. Because the system is

developmental, the levels ‘stack-up’.

This means that if you undertake level

three, you must also include the

evidence for levels one and two within

your evidence gathering.

Does your group measure up?

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Resources

Quality For Health has a full set of

resources to support organisations

undertaking the award. The resources

include a full set of guidance notes and

a workbook for each level. These will

be supplied on a branded data stick.

The workbooks are available in two

formats, an interactive PDF or

Microsoft Word format.

VAC w i l l supp l y suppo r t to

organisations undertaking the award

from our organisational development

team. Also offered will be a range of

training and workshop opportunities,

linked to nine quality areas to support

organisations to make full use of the

developmental aspects of the

programme.

Assessment

A quality mark would not be worth the

paper it is written on if it were not

challenging. Quality For Health

involves an organisation gathering

evidence and then self assessing

against the indicators for level(s) it has

registered for. This will be followed up

by an independent, external audit by

one of the assessing team from VAC. If

successful, the organisation will hold

the award for two years. If the

organisation is not successful at the

first audit, an improvement plan will be

drawn, and on completion of this and

submission of any required evidence,

the award will be made.

Pilot Scheme

For organisations who successfully

complete the pilot, the full award, at the

appropriate level will be granted. VAC

is also piloting the system outside of

Calderdale due to high level of interest

from other CCG’s and support

agencies around the country. In order

to validate the pilot scheme and to

strengthen Quality for Health when it

g o e s l i v e i n 2 0 1 6 w e a r e

commissioning an academic evaluation

of the pilot.

For organisations and groups working

in Calderdale who want to sign up for

the pilot scheme, please contact the

Quality and Development Officer, Terry

Perkins, 01422 348777 ext. 221 or

email terry.perkins@cvac.org.uk

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The Patient Reference Group

(PRG) Support Project was

set up in 2013 at VAC to sup-

port local GP surgeries across

Calderdale.

The project works with

Calderdale patients and

Practice Managers to support

and develop both new and

existing patient groups within

surgeries. The support offered

by the project includes help

with recruitment, Terms of

Reference, awareness events

and more.

After a very successful first

year, the project was refunded

by the Calderdale Clinical

Commissioning Group to

carry on the work for 2015 –

16. One of the key areas

highlighted for this year was

to look at Patient Experience

and to get some quality

feedback about the services

for the practices to work

around.

To obtain this information, the

PRG Support Project began

to collate feedback from other

3rd party sources such as

NHS Choices and the local

Healthwatch.

The project also began to

collect its own data on Patient

Experience in Calderdale by

completing the NHS Friends &

Family Test with patients in

surgery waiting rooms.

Throughout June and July,

the PRG Project Worker,

Moya Kirkman, began visiting

local GP surgeries to talk to

patients and so far has

completed 7 successful

sessions, with another 14

booked throughout the year.

At the sessions, patients were

forthcoming with ideas and

gave their thoughts about

their patient experience.

As a result of the findings and

picking up trends, practices

have already taken the

comments on board and are

starting to develop new ideas

and ways they provide

services, such as improving

the appointment systems.

The NHS Friends & Family

test was introduced into

hospitals in 2013 and later

came into GP Surgeries in

December 2014, with Dentists

and Mental Health services

following. It allows patients to

feedback as to whether they

would recommend that

particular surgery for similar

care or treatment to their

friends and family.

For more information about

the PRG Support Project and

Patient Experience, call

01422 348777.

Its all about the Patient Experience

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In January of this year, the

NHS invited organisations

and partnerships to become

“vanguard” sites for a new

programme a imed a t

supporting improvement and

integration of local health

care services. There was a lot

of interest, and on March 29th

the first wave of 29 vanguard

sites were chosen following a

rigorous selection process.

NHS Calderdale Clinical

Commiss i on in g G roup

(CCG), as part of the

Calderdale Health and Care

system, was one of those

selected and this now means

the partnership will pilot new

and innovative approaches to

care for local people.

The vanguard programme is

being supported by a £200m

‘pot’ of funding from NHS

England and the CCG will

have to bid for tranches of

that money in order to

progress the innovative

schemes.

As a Vanguard site, NHS

C a l d e r d a l e i s

currently establishing one of

the three new models of care

set out in the NHS Five Year

Forward View. It’s called a

‘Multispecialty Community

Provider.’

Put more simply, this means

that GPs and managers

within the CCG will be

working in partnership with

organisations such as

Voluntary Action Calderdale

to improve the health of our

community and to integrate

community services. The

intention is develop new ways

of providing care to three

groups of patients – those

with long term conditions,

those who are frail (and

usually elderly) and children

with complex needs.

The aim for all of these

groups is to support them to

self-manage their care,

increase their awareness of

where they can make

improvements to their lifestyle

choices and provide better

access to health and social

care; to have a single point of

access so patients and carers

don’t have to tell their story to

many people many times.

The new ways of working will

be piloted or tested in the

Upper Calder Valley and then

assessed before those which

are successful are rolled out

to the rest of Calderdale.

It may be that a scheme

which is successful in the

Upper Calder Valley can also

work in say central Halifax but

with some adaptation. That is

one of the enduring benefits

of the Vanguard programme

– it encourages innovation in

providing local healthcare

services – an ability to try

new things in conjunction with

patient engagement and

feedback and then, where

possible, refining the service

to suit the needs of a local

community.

P a t i e n t a n d p u b l i c

engagement in the schemes

is extremely important and

whilst there has already been

a great deal of local

engagement, you can expect

a lot more as the schemes

get underway in the coming

months.

Calderdale Vanguard - What’s it all about?

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Care Closer to Home event proves a success

What is Care Closer

to Home?

Care Closer to Home is the

future of Health and Social

Care Services in Calderdale.

The Care Closer to Home

model for Calderdale was

developed by the Calderdale

CCG after engaging with

local people about how they

would like to see health

services working.

The feedback from this

engagement was that people

wanted their care as close to

home as possible and to

avoid being admitted to

hospital. An improvement to

community services was also

highlighted as a way to help

improve local healthcare by

s t rengthening exis t ing

facilities.

On the 1st April 2015, VAC

facilitated a collaborative event

with Calderdale Clinical

Commissioning Group (CCG),

the Local Authority, and North

Bank Forum (NBF) at The

Shay Stadium in Halifax.

The overall purpose of the

event, entitled ‘Care Closer to

Home – What is it and what

does it mean for the Voluntary/

Community sector’, was to

inform the Voluntary and

Community sector about the

Care Closer to Home model

and to engage the sector as a

partner in the delivery of this

model.

There was an attendance of

121 delegates representing a

range of stakeholders,

predominantly the Voluntary

and Community Sector.

Other stakeholder groups

included:

Healthwatch Calderdale

Local authority officers

The Commiss ion ing

Support Unit (CSU)

Community Foundation

for Calderdale

The event was made up of a

combination of presentations,

table top discussions and a

question and answer panel.

Key speakers on the day

included:

Rhona Radley, Senior

Service Improvement

Manager, Calderdale

CCG

Debbie Graham, Head of

Service Improvement,

Calderdale CCG

Caron Walker, Public

Hea l t h C ons u l t an t ,

Calderdale LA

Dean Wallace, Public

H e a l t h C o n s u l t a n t

Calderdale LA

Presentation topics on the day

focused on Care Closer to

Home, how the Local Authority

and Calderdale CCG will be

working together around the

model and how the Voluntary

and Community sector can

support it.

A Care Closer to Home

animation is available on

Youtube. Please search

Calderdale Care Closer

to Home

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An important part of the day

was the table top discussions

for all 121 delegates. With

support from a facilitator on

each table, the groups

discussed the following two

questions:

What can the Third

Sector bring to Care

Closer to Home?

What would you need

f r om the C l i n i ca l

Commissioning group to

help maximize this?

The key themes that emerged

from the table discussions are

detailed in the green box.

Investment in the Third

Sector

The CCG approach to

investment in the Third Sector

was presented at the event.

The area of focus for

investment was refined in

response to feedback at the

event to include the following:

Pr imary prevent ion

through addressing

wider determinants of

health (physical and

mental)

Initiatives that deliver

supported self care and

early intervention for

physical and mental

health

Initiatives that deliver

supported discharge

from hospital

A total of £500k was allocated

to the sector to be used over

a maximum three year period.

What can the Third Sector

bring to Care Closer To

Home?

Relationships, trust,

knowledge of localities,

communities and

networks

Communication avenue

Local communities

Identify harder to reach

groups and involve those

not engaged

Flexibility and

responsiveness to needs

Ability to identify gaps

Innovation and creativity

Value for money

Focus on prevention and

early intervention

Buildings, facilities and

community spaces

Offer services via GP

surgeries and Health

Centres

Facilitation of

partnership working and

signposting

What would you need from

the Clinical Commissioning

group to help maximize

this?

The following themes

emerged:

Funding and sustainability

Communication and

understanding

Equality and value

Work with GPs and health

professionals

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