Salford to lead the way with ground-breaking health care organisation

By Neal Keeling

Health care in Salford will be transformed from Friday with a pioneering new organisation. Nearly 450 adult social care staff from the council will transfer to an Integrated Care Organisation (ICO) led by Salford Royal Hospital .The move is being viewed nationally as ground-breaking. The aim is to reduce hospital admissions by detecting illnesses early and create a consistently high quality of care across the city. Four years work by NHS Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Salford Royal, Salford council and Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust have created the new body. The ICO will also run mental health services and will have responsibility for domiciliary and nursing home care. Ultimately, it will cover 2,000 staff across adult community, mental and acute health and social care services with a budget of £213m.It will deliver around £27m of recurrent savings by 2021, through reducing hospital admissions and eliminating duplications across the health and social care system.

Bold, brave move

Coun Tracy Kelly, the council’s lead member for adult services, health and wellbeing, said: “We are one of the first councils in the country to completely join-up all our adult social care services with NHS health services and create a new organisation to deliver them. “It’s  a bold, brave move but one which I believe will deliver better and more personalised services for our residents and, in the face of reduced resources and increasing demand, it will protect and enhance the fantastic services and staff we have developed over many years. ” Dr Hamish Stedman, chair of Salford CCG, said: “We will work together with local people to try to ‘nip potential illness in the bud’. But if illness does occur, we will join up care in, or near, people’s homes and make sure it is of the same high standard right across Salford. Co-ordinated, consistent, kind and high-quality care delivered across the city. ” Sir David Dalton, chief executive at Salford Royal, said: “By pooling expertise, skills and knowledge, the care we provide will be even more patient-focused and joined up so we can help reduce the need for hospital admissions and also reduce the length of a hospital stay. “ This new and improved way of working will give patients the appropriate support they need to effectively self-manage their own care in the comfort of their own home . “ The closer relationships we will have with colleagues working in adult social care and mental health services will improve communication and decision-making, providing patients and service users with more co-ordinated care and ultimately, better outcomes.”