Cllr Ruth Dombey, Deputy Group Leader and Sutton Council leader writes:
“Liberal Democrats have long believed that far more funding and effort needs to go into preventative care and early intervention to prevent people needing expensive hospital care. But how should these services be planned? Good local government can play a key role in this. In Sutton we have slowly and steadily worked with all the local healthcare providers and commissioners and convinced them that we need to bring everyone together under one umbrella grouping. We have now set up a formal alliance called Sutton Health and Care which includes the council, the local CCG, the hospital trust, the mental health trust, community services, public health and the community and voluntary sector. Interestingly it is the hospital trust and it’s chief executive who is helping lead the charge to reduce the number of hospital admissions by providing better and earlier care in the community.
“Already we are finding resources we didn’t know existed. Sutton Council employs two speech and language therapists but we have now discovered there are 32 professionals offering speech and language therapy to Sutton residents – so we’re going to encourage them to work in a more joined up way with better outcomes for everyone concerned. This isn’t about creating local monopolies. It’s about harnessing local resources, skills and funding and providing joined-up local care. We are encouraging all the health providers and commissioners to work with us on a local area basis so we’re no longer helping people with individual separate health and social issues but providing them and their families with the care and advice they need to lead healthier and happier lives within and as part of the community. It’s about listening to people, understanding their concerns and helping them find solutions that work for them and their families.
“The Chair of our local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group has called this new way of working “groundbreaking”. Our social workers are telling us this is why they wanted to get into social work in the first place.
“The role of the Health and Wellbeing Board is key. Liberal Democrat led Sutton is providing the leadership, facilitating and enabling this new way of working and helping partners work through the considerable obstacles imposed by their own separate organisations. Helpfully the people leading our local Sustainability and Transformation Plan also recognise the strength of what we are doing and are very supportive. As a party we believe that decisions should be made as close as possible to the people who are affected by them. Integrating health and social care, promoting public health and community action and building safe, resilient communities where people are empowered to have control over their lives and make choices about the lives they wish to lead – for me that should lie at the heart of our policy making. It’s why I joined the Liberal Democrats.”