Working together:
NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group
NHS South Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group
NHS Vale Royal Clinical Commissioning Group
NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group

Working Together Across Cheshire 

We are committed to regularly updating you regarding the progress of the work identified to support the development of a single commissioner and two Integrated Care Partnerships in Cheshire.
Our ambition is to deliver these updates on a regular basis to help to keep you informed about  progress.

Working Together Across Cheshire programme 
The Working Together Across Cheshire programme will deliver future CCG working arrangements across the county, in consultation with GP memberships and alignment with the development of ICPs in Cheshire West and Cheshire East. We will prioritise engagement with our GP memberships, staff, stakeholders and the public as this work develops.

Headlines

• Consultation with Executive Directors affected by plans to appoint to the new Executive structure now complete. A proposed structure for a new single executive team has been shared with CCG staff and a recruitment process is now underway.    
• The deadline for the submission of a potential application to merge the Cheshire CCGs to NHS England has been pushed back. Subject to the agreement of the memberships any application is now likely to be submitted at the end of September 2019. Further work is being undertaken to understand the full impact of this.
• The Cheshire CCGs have looked at further functions and are recommending a way forward for these to be aligned to ICPs in Cheshire West and Cheshire East.

Round up of key meetings 
Health and Wellbeing Boards 
Chief Officer Clare Watson and Dr Jonathan Griffiths, Chair of NHS Vale Royal CCG, attended Cheshire West and Chester Health and Wellbeing Board on 20 February to present a Working Together Across Cheshire update.
On 26 February Clare and Dr Andy Wilson, Chair of NHS South Cheshire CCG, attended an informal meeting of Cheshire East’s Health and Wellbeing Board to provide an update. Both boards have requested further attendance at future meetings to keep them updated regarding the progress of our plans.

Overview and Scrutiny Committees 
Lynda Risk, Chief Finance Officer for NHS South Cheshire and Vale Royal CCGs attended the Cheshire West and Chester People Overview Scrutiny Committee on Monday 4 March to present a Working Together Across Cheshire update.
There was good discussion with elected representatives regarding the plans for a single Cheshire CCG and great interest in the development of the Cheshire West Integrated Care Partnership, with a request for further information and updates to be provided.
Tracey Shewan, Director of Quality and Safeguarding for NHS South Cheshire and Vale Royal CCGs, attended the Cheshire East Overview Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 7 March to deliver the same presentation. The questions were varied, looking to the positive aspects of change. Members of the committee also asked about engagement with staff and with the  GP memberships, welcoming the update. 

Joint Membership Meetings
On 1 March the first joint Membership meeting on a Cheshire East ‘Place’ footprint basis was held in Middlewich, chaired by Dr Andy Wilson and Dr Mike Clarke, Deputy Chair of NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG.
The meeting included presentations on the development of Care Communities from Dr Neil Paul and Dr Paddy Kearns which covered both South and Eastern Cheshire.
Jacki Wilkes, the Development Director for the Cheshire East Integrated Care Partnership, led a workshop with GPs and staff regarding what we can expect to see in the development of the ICP.
Chief Officer Clare Watson delivered a presentation on the strategic commissioner and how a single Cheshire CCG will support the development of the Integrated Care Partnerships.
On 28 March the first joint Membership meeting on a Cheshire West ‘Place’ footprint will be held at Vicars Cross Golf Club.

Function updates
In the last newsletter we talked about how, following the listening events in the autumn of 2018, we’ve spent time looking at functions that can start to work in a more joined up way and support the developing Integrated Care Partnerships. The Communications and Engagement and Primary Care teams have been the first to progress this through a series of Cheshire-wide discussions.
A five-phased approach to aligning CCG functions to the Integrated Care Partnerships is proposed between February 2019 and April 2020 which will be discussed by CCG Governing Bodies and GP Memberships, who will need to agree accountability and delegation frameworks to support more joined up working.

Organisational Development (OD)
Cheshire CCGs Active Workplace Plan - staff share their ideas!
Staff across Cheshire have been sharing their ideas for the development of our Active Workplace Plan, with some great suggestions put forward to shape our ‘Active ambitions, objectives and priorities’ for workplace health and wellbeing. Some of the suggestions put forward so far include:

• Encourage walking and standing meetings
• Set workplace challenges to increase activity levels
• Nominate ‘workforce wellbeing champions’
• Make our office environments more creative and inspiring
• Focus on healthy eating and nutrition
• Staff-led lunchtime ‘activity taster’ sessions

The Active Workplace Plan is due to be launched in March so there’s still time to get involved and share your ideas, either by contacting  your Organisational Development leads and/or staff engagement representatives or by emailing your suggestions to: workingtogetheracrosscheshire@nhs.net

The draft Active Workplace Plan can be viewed here

Staff away days
 The following dates are confirmed for staff away days;

• 14 March:    NHS South Cheshire CCG and NHS Vale Royal CCG
• 17 April:       NHS West Cheshire CCG 

A date for NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG colleagues will also be confirmed soon.

Cheshire West Integrated Care Partnership
Significant progress is being made on three key initiatives which are helping to bring our Care Communities to life:

• What people need - Public Health producing a comprehensive needs assessment.
• What people want - Community Conversations started on Monday, February 4th.
• What people get - Care Community review will help us understand the current offer.

Our Community Conversations are now well underway and new dates have recently been added. Dates and venues for all face-to-face group sessions are available here.
To enable the widest possible response, one-to-one phone conversations are also available, as is an online survey. Please share this information via your networks. We need the clearest possible picture of what people in Cheshire West want to see.

Regular updates on all of Cheshire West Integrated Care Partnership's (CWICP) work will continue to be provided via the @CheshireWestICP Twitter account.
The most recent edition of the Cheshire West ICP Newsletter can be viewed here

Cheshire East Integrated Care Partnership
ICP Development Director
The recently-appointed Development Director of the emerging Cheshire East Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) has thanked colleagues across the county for warmly welcoming her into her new role.

A nurse by background and with more than 40 years’ healthcare experience, Jacki Wilkes (pictured) has been appointed by Cheshire CCGs’ Accountable Officer Clare Watson to implement a development programme for the proposed ICP.

Jacki will be working alongside partners in Cheshire East to identify the scope and scale of the ICP, and the structures and processes needed to enable the ICP to develop.
Currently Associate Director of Commissioning at NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG, Jacki said she felt “proud and privileged” to have been given the role.

Jacki has already drafted a 12-month implementation plan that will now be reviewed for adoption by the ICP Partnership Board in April. The emerging work programme will also be informed by the experience of the Cheshire West ICP and supported by the sharing of resources to accelerate delivery.

Jacki has worked in commissioning for more than a decade, initially in North Staffordshire but in Eastern Cheshire for the last eight years. Her experience of commissioning has included playing a leading role in planning, buying and redesigning urgent and emergency care in Eastern Cheshire.

Jacki’s recent achievements have included commissioning a new care model for specialist mental health services for adults and older people in Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal. The redesign was informed by extensive public consultation. She has also commissioned new hospital and community-based stroke services for Eastern Cheshire. The former have been rated the best in England by the Royal College of Physicians.

She is the “proud owner” of two teenage boys who are studying for their GCSEs and A-levels respectively with a view to going to university. In her spare time, she enjoys entertaining, visiting the theatre and watching son Harry rowing competitively at regional and national level.

Update from Working Together Across Cheshire.
Any comments or feedback please contact
workingtogetheracrosscheshire@nhs.net