West Yorkshire NHS team attends Downing Street reception.

Health and care staff from West Yorkshire have attended a special reception hosted by the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street.

Chris Dowse, Chief Officer of North Kirklees CCG and Chair of the West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care Network and Eric Davies, Vanguard Programme Director of the West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care Network joined more than 100 NHS and care staff, patients and patient representatives at the event.

Chris Dowse and Eric Davies are part of The West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care Network - one of 50 ‘vanguards' helping to deliver the Five Year Forward View, the vision for the future of the NHS.

Vanguards are leading on the development of new care models that will act as blueprints for the future of the health and care system across the country.The aim is to make health, care and support services more accessible, more responsive (less waiting time for patients) and more effective. Care will be better coordinated and closer to home.

They are aiming to offer one point of call for family doctors, community nurses, social and mental health services. In addition, they are joining up the often confusing array of A&E, GP out of hours, minor injuries clinics, ambulance services and 111 so that patients know where they can get urgent help easily and effectively, seven days a week.

The West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care Network will oversee, with local partners, the improvement of urgent care for more than three million people in West Yorkshire. Building on the recent success in improving trauma survival rates, the urgent and emergency care vanguards will change the way in which all organisations work together to provide care in a more joined up way for patients.

In West Yorkshire, the Network's partners want to build on local transformational plans to go further and faster. There will be a particular focus on ambulance services - building on current expertise and recognising that the service is about mobile treatment at home as well as patient transport. The Network will also focus on mental health services to improve and strengthen crisis response, as the needs of these patients impact across the entire urgent and emergency care system including social services and the police.

Prime Minister, David Cameron said: "I wanted to get you together to say a really big thank you, because I'm very proud of our NHS, I'm passionate about our NHS - as this whole Government is - we want it to be a real exemplar around the world.

"The agendas you're pursuing of better service for patients, integrating care in different pathways, making sure we make the most of science and innovation, that's the way - combined with the money - to have an NHS we can be even more proud of in five years' time and that's what I'm standing here trying to do for our country. So thank you."

Samantha Jones, Director - New Care Models Programme, said: "The new care model vanguards are helping to shape the future of health and care services across England. The team from West Yorkshire is playing a vital role, implementing new ways of working which will improve the care patients and their families receive. 

"This event is just one of many ways we are celebrating their important work and sharing their plans with other people across the wider health and care services".

The NHS Five Year Forward View is a partnership between NHS England, Monitor, the Care Quality Commission, The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), Health Educational England, Public Health England and the NHS Trust Development Authority.

ENDS

CAPTION: Chris Dowse, Chief Officer, North Kirklees CCG and Chair of the West Yorkshire Urgent and Emergency Care (WYUEC) Network.
 
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