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Looking at the progress made through our Plymouth Integrated Care Partnership – One Year On Event

Thumbnail version of wordcloud showing that 'trust' and 'continuity of care' are the most common responses to the question

Word cloud showing that 'trust' and 'continuity of care' are the most common responses to the question

Staff from University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and Livewell Southwest came together today to celebrate the progress made and the benefits achieved for patients and service users, through the Plymouth Integrated Care Partnership.

The Partnership celebrated its first birthday in July 2022 and the event was arranged to give those staff involved a space to share their progress and reflections. People from voluntary sector organisations, local councillors and regional NHS colleagues were among those joining the event and they heard about:

  • The stronger relationship and understanding built across hospital and community cardiology teams that is resulting in better, joined-up care for more patients with heart problems alongside the use of a new app, the MyHeart app, which is offered to patients at Phase 1 of their rehabilitation following heart attack or heart surgery.
  • The most radical change in community mental health in 30 years in Plymouth in the shape of the Community Mental Health Framework which is now ensuring there is an individual bespoke offer for everyone needing community mental health support. As Livewell Southwest Chief Executive Michelle Thomas said: “There is no health without mental health” and attendees heard that the transformation in mental health care has led to an 80% reduction in referrals to secondary care. They were also told one patient’s story of how early intervention and support has helped that person move on with their life and go on to be a volunteer helping others.
  • Work to support people to age well. Multi-disciplinary team working and the use of the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment has led to an extra 71 days alive and living in their own homes for the most frail patients and a 10% improvement in the number of people able to die in the place of their choice. This is a significant improvement in quality of life for those people who are older and more frail.

Ann James, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, said: “It’s hard to believe we are a year on from when the Partnership started. Bringing us together, we have seen that what we have collectively got in common is our culture, our values and our unequivocal commitment to making a difference to our local community. The real examples we saw today demonstrated the difference that is already being felt by local people through this work.”

Michelle Thomas added: “Because we trust and understand each other, it contributes to a better focus on true patient-centric care. This shows we are driving in the right direction. We look at issues and problems together and how we can overcome those.”

Summing up the event, Karen Cook, Chair of Livewell Southwest said: “My takeaways from today are that openness, trust, good communication and willingness to listen has had a huge impact on patient outcomes. We will be taking that further in the priorities for Year 2.”

You can watch the event back here

Those attending the event were asked a series of questions, including: What good examples have you already seen or experienced? The responses that featured most often included “trust” and “continuity of care”, as shown in the wordcloud above.

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