Update from the Partnership Board

The Partnership Board met for the last time in 2020 on 23rd December. There were four substantial
items of business and we are pleased to report progress on those matters below. In addition, we’d like
to confirm the position with regard to the Memorandum of Understanding that was discussed at the
last meeting in November. This has been generally well received throughout the Partnership with local
authorities giving a particularly rich contribution to the MoU’s development. We have also had some
‘Places’ wanting to support it on a collective basis, which is both helpful and welcome. The final draft for
recommendation to constituent bodies will be agreed at the next meeting in January.

Alan Yates, Chair
Dr Jackie Bene, Chief Officer

Covid-19 Vaccination Programme

There has been a tremendous effort over the last few weeks by many individuals, teams, PCNs and Trusts. We are hugely thankful to all of them for their work, despite the difficulties and challenges. You will be aware that the Pfizer vaccine rollout is complex but we are confident of continued implementation of the plans with care home staff and residents, and the over 80s currently being prioritised. The roll out will continue throughout January.

ICS Designation

We have now submitted the first draft of our proposal seeking formal ICS designation by 1st April 2021 to NHS England NW. This is an important development for the Partnership that will increase our effectiveness and enable us to better support our nine ‘Places’ to thrive. We’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the submission document. If you wish to add supporting evidence, you can do so throughout January by sending it to Ben Vinter.

Strategic Priorities

The Board is in the process of reviewing its strategic priorities to reflect the greater clarity we have developed over the purpose of the Partnership and additional areas the expected legislation will address about the need for the NHS to more explicitly support social and economic development in our patch.

Members discussed at length the need to design an appropriate governance framework that enables effective decision making at the right levels. The primacy of ‘Place’ is inherent throughout much of our work and we recognise that what that means must be clearer. It is imperative that the principles of the partnership drive the governance process and enables effective oversight of all the programmes’ progress. There is more work to do on this and the Board will review it again at the next meeting.

Before then, we will agree the criteria against which the programmes will be measured; continue to develop the governance arrangements; and ask the programmes to review their priorities against the new criteria. Then we can allocate the resources required. We’ll update you again after the next Partnership Board.

Mental Health Improvement Programme

Sheena Cumiskey, CEO of the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust, and SRO for the Partnership’s Mental Health Programme presented a proposal for a revised strategic commissioning approach, across Cheshire and Merseyside, for mental health improvement. The presentation can be found here. There has been great progress here implementing the national long term plan for mental health. We now want to build on that and make sure it is firmly related to the Partnership’s priority to focus on addressing inequality, and supporting system-wide commissioning that works to the appropriate scale to meet local need, and uses resources to ensure the best value.

All partners recognised that this is a complex environment with some commissioning and delivery at both system (Cheshire and Merseyside) and local (Place) levels. While simplification of the process will be welcome, such complexity is something we have to work with. A joined up, collaborative approach to this is necessary, with the Mental Health Improvement Board having oversight on behalf of all partners. The Board agreed to fund a central resource to support the proposed change.

NW Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Strategic Assembly

This week, we have written to Evelyn Asante-Mensah and Bill McCarthy, Cochairs of the NW BAME Strategic Assembly confirming that the Partnership Board collectively endorsed their vision, mission and identified priorities, at our Partnership Board meeting on 25th November.