Health and Wellbeing Board

19 March 2025

Report of the York Health and Care Partnership

Summary

1. This report provides an update to the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB) regarding the work of the York Health and Care Partnership (YHCP), progress to date and next steps.

2. The report is for information and discussion and does not ask the Health and Wellbeing Board to respond to recommendations or make any decisions.

Background

3. Partners across York Place continue to work closely together to integrate services for our population. The YHCP shares the vision of the York Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy that in 2032, York will be healthier, and that health will be fairer.

4. The YHCP has an Executive Committee (shadow) which is the forum through which senior Partnership leaders collaborate to oversee the delivery of the Partnership priorities. Since 2022, the YHCP has been an Executive Committee of the ICB, drawing on membership across Integrated Care Board (ICB) senior officers, City of York Council senior officers, York and Scarborough NHS Teaching Hospital, Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Mental Health Trust, primary care, York Centre for Voluntary Services, Healthwatch York, the university and education sectors, and City of York Council elected members.

Update on the work of the YHCP

5. The Executive Committee meets monthly, and a summary of the meetings held in January and February 2025 is set out below.

January 2025 Executive Committee Meeting

6. The January meeting of the Executive Committee focused on the following items:

Ø York Mental Health Partnership Sub-Group Report: This report provided a progress update from the York Mental Health Partnership to the YHCP. It also restated the co-produced high-level vision for the York Mental Health Partnership which is as follows:

The Mental Health Partnership’s vision for York is of a Whole Life, Whole Person, Whole System approach and a city where citizens ca:

· All feel valued by our community, connected to it and can help shape it

· Are enabled to help ourselves and others, build on our strengths, and can access support with confidence

· Are proud to have a Mental Health Service that is built around our lives, listens to us, is flexible and responds to all our needs

To work towards achieving this high-level vision the YMHP meets every two months where they discuss a variety of workstreams.

Mental Health Hubs and 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre: To date the key workstream for the Partnership has been the Connecting our City Project, with a focus on establishing mental health hubs within the city. Highlights of this work are:

a) Work on the existing Mental Health Hub at Clarence Street continues

b) A further 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre at Acomb Garth continues to be developed supported by NHSE funding. A manager for the centre has been recruited.

c) A recruitment event was held in Acomb in December and there was a great deal of interest in a variety of roles at the 24/7 centre. Formal recruitment will be taking place in the first quarter of 2025

The Joint Delivery Group is responsible for overseeing progress, decision making and unblocking issues.

Resources are kept under regular review to maximise the benefits afforded by the addition of short term national funding, including how the hubs can inform the future of community based mental health services, which join up medical and non-medical/social based models.

The York Mental Health Partnership is developing a strategy on a page and accompanying narrative. Work on this is progressing well, however it is still evolving and at a draft stage. The ultimate goal is for this to be an All-Age document and work continues to achieve this

Children & Young People’s Mental Health Group: work is ongoing to establish a children and young people’s mental health group. Several meetings have been held but work is still ongoing to agree a Terms of Reference, scope and membership for the group.

Ø Health Inequalities and Prevention Funding for 2025/26 onwards: This report outlined proposals for health inequalities and prevention services from April 2025 in a three-pillar approach:

Pillar 1 A community-based intervention focused on Children and Young People, working with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector to address the wider determinants of health.

Pillar 2 Improving diagnosis, outcomes, and secondary prevention through enhancement to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in General Practice, with a targeted focus on addressing health inequalities.

Pillar 3 Prevention – A set of actions to strengthen and simplify access to the existing prevention and early intervention services in the city, including proactive social prescribing, and targeting people with high or increasing intensity service use.

The three pillars have been designed to deliver substantial interventions that improve both clinical outcomes and the wider determinants of health, through strengthening our universal prevention offer and targeting further support at those facing the starkest health inequalities.

Ø Accelerating Healthy Communities: this report focused on a joint call to action to shape health and care services in the city over the next decade or more.

The reasons are two-fold:

Firstly, the ICB and City of York Council recognise that some of the challenges we face – rising demand, related to rising morbidity and population growth; the condition of the health and social care estate; funding deficits – cannot be eased without significant and lasting action to build for future generations.

Secondly, all health and care partners are keen to move towards a neighbourhood model for health, as a means of delivering better care, closer to home while reducing pressure on services and creating healthier, more connected neighbourhoods. At the moment our physical infrastructure and working practices hold us back from being able to align services and invest in the modern infrastructure needed.

Dedicated capacity and feasibility testing is required to progress this long term work. Obviously, there's still a lot of thinking to be done, and we are sure things will change as feasibility progresses.

It is worth noting that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have issued communications in January and February 2025, describing neighbourhood models as a pre-requisite to the ten-year plan anticipated this year, which all systems and providers must get behind. Accelerating Healthy Communities therefore provides York with the clarity and constancy of purpose to lead a local response, in support of the ICB and Council’s work to deliver the national ambition.

February 2025 Executive Development Session

7.The focus of the February development session was to consider a draft partnership agreement to support the agreed establishment of a joint committee from April 2025. The Partnership Agreement formalises the foundation of relationships and strength of leadership already established through the shadow committee. It will set out how we work together; to integrate and transform services; to improve outcomes and address health inequalities for the population of York. It will help to ensure we have the right skills, capacity, and capability from “Team York” – commissioners, providers, and wider partners.

Work of the York Population Health Hub

8.The York Population Health Hub continues to drive initiatives aimed at improving population health outcomes in our city. In collaboration with students from York St John University, the Population Health Hub has developed a video highlighting the risks associated with high blood pressure. This video presents steps that patients can take to detect hypertension early and begin treatment, leveraging creative input from students to ensure the content is engaging and impactful.

9.The Hub has been actively involved in supporting the development of Integrated Neighbourhood Teams. Developing Integrated Neighbourhood teams – where health, care and prevention practitioners start working in or relate to localities or ‘neighbourhoods’ of approximately 50,000 people – is an important part of the future neighbourhood model both nationally and locally. The Hub is developing a population health data pack for each neighbourhood to provide valuable insights into community health needs and trends, aligning with existing council wards and ensuring a balanced approach to population needs across different areas. The data highlights key health indicators, including long-term condition prevalence, mental health trends, and the distribution of vulnerable populations. Additionally, it includes insights into the impact of social determinants on health outcomes and the accessibility of health services within each neighbourhood.

10. The Hub has played a crucial role in assisting City of York Council’s Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. By offering data insights into patient-nominated pharmacies, the Hub has contributed to a better understanding of pharmacy service utilisation across the city.

11. Mental health in primary care has also been a focus. At the February York Health & Care Collaborative meeting, the Hub presented an in-depth analysis of primary care data on mental health in York. This presentation sparked significant discussions, encouraging further exploration of mental health service provision and needs.

12. In January, the Hub hosted a “Lunch & Learn” session on Staying Well in the Winter. This session emphasised the importance of seasonal vaccinations, including updates on the RSV vaccine and its role in protecting vulnerable populations. Attendees also gained insights from vaccination datasets to understand trends and public health impacts. The event featured practical advice from City of York Council’s Home Energy Efficiency Team, highlighting funding opportunities and initiatives to maintain warm and healthy homes during winter. Furthermore, the impact of winter on emergency services and hospital admissions was discussed, along with a directory of services to support communities and professionals through the season.

13. Through these initiatives, the York Population Health Hub remains committed to fostering innovation, collaboration, and evidence-based strategies to enhance the well-being of the York community.

Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) Annual Report

14. Humber and North Yorkshire ICB's Annual Report for 2024-25 will include a section outlining how the ICB has contributed to delivery of local joint health and wellbeing strategies. The following wording has been submitted for inclusion:

York Health and Care Partnership has made notable progress in enhancing health and care services. The Frailty Crisis Response and Health Integration service, which has been operational since 2023, has continued to expand and now operates seven days a week, supporting around 7,300 crisis cases per year and avoiding 2,920 ED attendances. Our collaborative approach has streamlined hospital discharge processes and a ‘home first’ care approach, resulting in more patients who no longer require medical care being able to leave hospital much sooner compared to the previous year, and remain independent in their own homes. The first Mental Health hub was launched in May 2024 to provide flexible, community-connected mental health support aimed at early intervention and prevention. A range of initiatives have focused on supporting vulnerable populations and reducing health inequalities in York, including social and wellbeing activities for asylum seekers and GP outreach services for women with urgent healthcare needs who face barriers to accessing conventional care and enhanced support for children with autism and anxiety. A second Brain Health Cafe was also launched to aid individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

Contact Details

Authors:

Compiled by Tracy Wallis, Health and Wellbeing Partnerships Co-ordinator, City of York Council