Progress made to improve health and care in Bolton
Work to shape services to improve the health and wellbeing of Bolton residents is progressing quickly.
Plans for teams to work even closer together and make the best use of available resources have been approved by the partner organisations involved.
Commissioning staff employed by Bolton Council and Bolton CCG will form an integrated team, working to a single commissioning plan for health and care services.
The integrated team will be led by a director of strategic commissioning, funded by existing resources from within the Bolton health and care system.
In addition, the Integrated Care Partnership is moving forward by becoming a provider alliance to enable staff from different organisations to work better together.
Staff have already been working closely to offer co-ordinated care for residents, closer to their homes and tailored to their needs and those of the community.
A neighbourhood-based model of care – which also includes wider partners such as housing and the police – is being developed that will help people gain access to the services they need in a more structured way.
The new alliance will allow staff to be led by an overall Managing Director but remain part of their current organisation.
This new way of working will help these teams provide better care for patients and reduce overlaps in working and duplication. It will also help to reduce the need for people to repeat the same information to many different health and care professionals.
Jackie Bene, Chief Executive of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “This is the next step in improving the delivery of health and social care services in ways that makes better sense to people: in neighbourhoods where people live; in partnership with communities to make better use of their strengths and abilities to help themselves which can often be overlooked, and with more simple access routes to care.”
Bolton Council’s Executive Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Cllr Andy Morgan, said: “As a council we want Bolton residents of all ages to live healthier, fulfilling lives and to feel fully supported by our health and social care services.
“We know that there are differences across our borough so by working closer than ever with our partners we can address any inequalities and ensure services are delivered closer to where people live. These latest developments represent a big step forward towards achieving this goal.”
Chairman of NHS Bolton CCG, Wirin Bhatiani, said: “Since we embarked on this partnership agreement back in 2018, we have all been working hard behind the scenes to make our intentions of a more integrated health and care system for Bolton a reality.
“I am pleased to say that we have made great progress and are now ready to move forward by formalising some of these arrangements. These steps will provide staff with clearer direction and focus and, in turn, will have a positive effect on the public.
“By working in this way, together we’ll be able to deliver better care; that is closer to home and that matters to people and their families.”
