CHN goes to Leeds for ‘Innovation, Devolution, Perspiration’ 

We had a fantastic first ever CHN event in Leeds. We were joined by four outstanding speakers:

• Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire
• Ed Whiting, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council
• ​Marie Burnham, Chair of South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
• ​Giles Tully, CEO of PinPoint Data Science

We were particularly grateful to Oliver Coppard for stepping in at the last minute when West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin had to pull out on the birth of her first grandchild (congratulations, Tracy!).

The discussion covered a wide agenda focused around four themes:

1. The criticality of a pan government/pan community approach to improving health and wealth:

• Recognition that healthcare services play a relatively small role in improving health – so a pan government/pan society approach which considers education, employment, housing, access to green space etc is critical
• The potential to re-align services to build local teams providing services in accessible locations – the example of the Alhambra centre in Barnsley was shared – New Barnsley town centre health hub is “future of NHS” – BBC News
• Across Leeds are 31 children’s centres, 7 leisure centres, 80 GP practices – how could these be aligned to provide more joined up care

2. There needs to be a more strategic approach to allocating resources and redesigning services – there’s a tendency in the NHS to only focus on the short term but substantive change needs longer term thinking – and a willingness to take out the old – closing wards and consolidating services and sites

3. Technology offers significant potential to accelerate and deliver change – advanced data solutions, digital tools can all make a significant difference to population health, productivity, quality of care

4. Leadership is critical – along with a willingness to take on responsibilities and accountabilities – the example of Steve Houghton was shared – who has clearly been critical in driving successful change in Barnsley

Many participants commented on the potential of change across Yorkshire – and the desire to create more opportunities for discussion and debate. We will be back!

Thank you to Deloitte for kindly hosting us at their Leeds office and to Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber for helping to organise the event. Photography by Claire Wood Photography.