Ambulance trust awarded integrated urgent care contract

Published on Jan 23, 2019

NHS Commissioners in Yorkshire and the Humber have (22 January 2019) announced that Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been awarded a contract to provide integrated urgent care services across the region for the next five years.

The contract, worth £17.6 million in 2019/20, has been developed in line with a new national service specification to provide the region’s population of 5.4 million with access, where appropriate, to clinical advice and treatment when they have an urgent healthcare need. The contract incorporates the NHS 111 call handling service with core clinical advice and will feature a range of developments, including being able to issue prescriptions and increasing the number of bookings into GP and urgent care appointments.

Agencies across the Yorkshire and Humber region have worked together to commission NHS 111 telephony, a call handling service and core Clinical Advice Service (CAS). The contract award follows a nine-month long procurement process undertaken on behalf of the region’s twenty-one Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) along with NHS England North Region – Yorkshire and the Humber.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service currently provides the NHS 111 service across Yorkshire and the Humber. The Trust is now working with commissioners to implement the new service, which will start on 1 April 2019.

Martin Pursey, Head of Contracting and Procurement at NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG, which is the lead commissioning organisation for the service, said: “I have confidence that by working together with the ambulance service, we will be in a strong position to meet the ongoing and developing requirements in respect of integrated urgent care across our region and through this, ensure that more people receive care and support out of hospital”.

Rod Barnes, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “Having provided the region’s high performing and well regarded NHS 111 service for the last six years, the opportunity for the Trust to transition to the new Integrated Urgent Care service is warmly welcomed.

“In line with our Trust’s strategic ambitions to ensure patients and communities experience fully joined-up care responsive to their needs and with excellent outcomes, we are excited to have the opportunity to develop our NHS 111 service to deliver integrated urgent car through collaboration with primary care colleagues, other providers and commissioners.”

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Work starts on improvements to specialist community mental health services for new and expectant mums

Published on Oct 1, 2018

Mental health services for new and expectant mums in the Humber region and parts of Yorkshire are expanding this autumn using an NHS cash injection worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Having secured part of a £23 million NHS England grant earlier this year, the Humber Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership – an alliance of more than 20 healthcare organisations, Local Authorities and Voluntary Sector organisations – will work together to deliver perinatal mental health services across Hull, East Riding, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Scarborough and Ryedale, and York.

From 1 October, the services will extend to ensure women who experience complex mental health needs, as well as their families receive the support they need and have access to treatments at the earliest possible stage.

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust is strengthening its specialist community perinatal mental health services in Hull and East Riding, whilst working collaboratively with NAViGO and Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust to implement a new service for the North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire areas.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust will provide new, much needed community perinatal mental health services across the Vale of York and Scarborough.

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive and the Mental Health Partnership Lead, Michele Moran said: “We are delighted to have started work on improvements to a much needed service to the Yorkshire, Humber and North Lincolnshire regions.

“So many new and expectant mothers experience mental health problems and we’re proud to work with our partners to extend the perinatal service into underserved areas and hopefully help hundreds of women and their families.”

The funding granted is part of a £365 million plan to ensure 30,000 more women can access specialist perinatal services by 2021.

Michelle Thompson, Assistant Director for Women’s and Children’s services for North East Lincolnshire CCG and the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership Lead said: “Having a baby is a major life event for mums and dads, and it’s natural to experience a whole range of emotions and reactions during and after pregnancy.

“But if these problems start to have a big impact on day to day life, it might be a sign of a mental health problem and this service will provide some much needed specialist support for local families who are experiencing difficulties during or after the birth of their child.”

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