Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire’s sustainability and transformation partnership, Healthier Together, has demonstrated its commitment to redesign health and care services collaboratively with a conference held in Bristol on Thursday 21 June.
Around 300 people, including staff from health and social care, local councillors, volunteers and patient representatives came together to hear local leaders outline the vision for the future of health and social care in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Delegates, which included representatives from Sirona, were provided with the opportunity to have their say and input to priority areas through marketplace stalls and seminar sessions. Professor Sir Muir Gray, Director of Better Value Healthcare, also spoke at the event and emphasised the importance of working as a network across organisational boundaries.
Julia Ross, Chief Executive of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and one of the Healthier Together leaders, said: “We were delighted to have such a great number of staff and colleagues from partner organisations come together at this milestone event in our work to improve local health and care. The NHS has stood the test of time so far, but if we want it to be here for our children and our children’s children we need it to adapt and be responsive to people’s needs now and in the future.
“Healthier Together is our local plan to ensure our services are futureproofed. To be successful we need commitment from all our partners and the public, and this event really demonstrated that.”
The Healthier Together partnership has identified a number of health and care areas to prioritise the improvement of services together over the next two years. These are:
- Mental health
- Maternity
- Urgent care
- Healthy Weston
- Integrated community localities
- Acute care collaboration
- Primary care transformation
- Prevention
- Workforce
- Digital transformation.
Sir Ron Kerr, Chair of Healthier Together, added: “We are focused on making substantial improvements for local people and to ensure the sustainability of our health and care services. It is encouraging to see the breadth and depth of work that has taken place already in support of improving services. The Healthier Together conference has succeeded in bringing many individuals together who can make this change happen and provide a shared sense of purpose.”
“As we start to move our plans into action, we will look to involve members of the public who use services to support design. We don’t have all the answers yet and want to work with the public to find the best solutions to the changing and increasing needs of our communities.”
For more information please visit Healthier Together’s new website: www.bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk
