Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and North Durham Sustainability and Transformation Plan

1. Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and North Durham Sustainability and Transformation Plan Outcome of engagement on the plan

2. What we did In November 2016 a 12 week programme of engagement was launched to: • raise awareness about the plan • address any concerns or issues • inform the final draft of the plan. “Civic” organisations ,the public, patients, carers and staff had the opportunity to share their views.

3. What did we engage on? We asked for views on the vision, ambitions and approach that the plan set out to improve the health and wellbeing of 1.7m people living in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and North Durham.

4. The Vision • Everyone who lives, works, learns in or visits the area will realise their full potential and equally enjoy positive health and well being • Safe and sustainable health and social care services that are joined up, closer to home and economically viable • Local people are empowered and supported to play a role in improving their health and well being.

5. The Ambition Delivery of the draft STP would mean that by 2021: • the health inequalities in our area will have reduced to be comparable to the rest of the country • we will have thriving out of hospital services that attract and retain the staff they need to best support their patients • there will be high quality hospital and specialist care across the whole area, seven days a week.

6. The Approach Health and social care partner organisations devised the draft STP to address the three main gaps identified in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View: • health and wellbeing • care and quality • funding.

7. The Approach The draft plan identified local gaps in these three areas that partners believe can be plugged by: • Scaling up existing work on ill-health prevention and improving wellbeing • Improving the quality and experience of care by increasing collaboration between organisations that provide out of hospital care and making the best use of our acute or hospital based services • Closing the gap in our finances, which if we do nothing could be £641m by 2021

8. How did people get engaged? • Information about the plan was on all partner websites and in their newsletters • “Civic” organisations were asked directly for their views • Completing a survey • Sending comments by email/letter • Attending public events

9. Key themes • The vision • The engagement process • Finance • Tackling health inequalities • Workforce • Access to services • Role of local authorities • What does this mean for me?

10. Key theme – the vision • Few people disagreed with the vision • Said to be “laudable” by many • Others suggested the area should be aiming higher – health and wellbeing that was better than other areas not just the same • Questions about how the vision could be achieved within the timescale

11. Key theme – the engagement process • Some people were unclear about the purpose of the engagement proces • Others were frustrated that the draft STP did not have more detail about what it would mean for individual services • Stressed the need for open, transparent and clear consultation around the final plan

12. Key theme - finance • This theme prompted the most comments • Many said it was “unachieveable” within current resources • Some suggested “double running costs” were required to make changes • Questions about how the draft STP would plug the funding gap

13. Key theme – tackling health inequalities • Support for the need to improve, particularly obesity, smoking and exercise • Questions about the speed that lifestyle change could reduce impact on health and social care services • Queries about funding for initiatives to improve the underlying health of the population

14. Key theme - workforce • Changes to health and social care workforce impacting on ability to change e.g nurse bursaries, GP gaps, ageing workforce • Questions about how gaps would impact on achieving care closer to home and seven day working • Concerns about how gaps would impact on the role of carers

15. Key theme – access to services • People living in rural parts of Northumberland and North Durham particularly concerned about how they would access services if the draft STP resulted in change • North Durham residents also concerned about the perception that services in the county were being “split” between two STP areas.

16. Key theme – role of local authorities • Some people said the draft STP was too focused on health services • Questions about the involvement of local authorities in drafting the plan • Concerns about ability to achieve the draft STP at a time when social care budgets also being squeezed.

17. Key theme – what does it mean for me? • Expectation that the draft STP would have had more detail about the impact on individual services • People wanted the plan to be more specific about how the needs of certain people would be met e.g young people, carers , people with mental health problems or learning disabilities

18. What next? • All the feedback from the engagement phase is being considered by partners • Comments will help to shape the final STP • Local people will have further opportunities to have their say on the proposed vision, ambitions and approach to making improvements to the health of local communities when an updated draft plan is published later in the year.