NHS Health And Social Care Leader Calls For Systemic Solutions For National Economic Growth
Speaking on the Voices of Care Podcast from Newcross Healthcare Salma Yasmeen, chief executive of Sheffield Health and Social Care FT (SHSC), discussed how better integrated health services can be the catalyst for national economic growth. This echoes the call from Lord Darzi that the NHS should “contribute to the nation’s prosperity.”
Salma was co-commissioner of the Pathways to work report (Chaired by Sir Alan Milburn) which looked at how national and local systems can unlock the potential of millions of people who would like to work if they had the right support and employment opportunities.
Over the next 12 months, Salma stated that one of her regions key priorities is to look at ‘what can we do through collaboration with our partners to support people to develop pathways into employment?’
Salma stated “As part of the research into the Pathways to Works report, we heard from a range of stakeholders across South Yorkshire. And most of them want to work but 75% of those people we surveyed were out of work because of ill health. Ill health and people being economically inactive are inextricably linked and we can’t ignore that.”
The podcast’s host, Suhail Mirza, and non-executive director of Newcross Healthcare asked “The Pathways to Work report claimed that in Barnsley alone, a £10 million investment programme pilot programme would result in £70 million of economic benefit, if rolled out nationally £23 billion. Has policy to date been directed at the wrong target?”
Salma comments: “We have not invested in occupational health services or wellbeing services and support the way that we should. What people need is tailored, bespoke support and for employers to take a preventative lens to staff that are ill, and when people are unwell, how do you provide them with good occupational health services?
We need to create pathways into employment that are targeted, that make sure that we take a whole systems approach. Organisations like us in the health and care sector, big employers and private employers need to work together with local authorities and Integrated Care Systems for local populations. We must develop a much more inclusive approach to our economy and ensure we’re able to address our workforce shortages. And I think that is at the heart of what integrated care systems have been set up to do.”
Suahil Mirza notes: “One of the key findings of the report does allude to the role ICBs and the healthcare system generally to partner with employers. Are you beginning to see that and is there an actual willingness to do that?”
Replying, Salma says: “I think all of us want to make a difference to the populations within which we reside. I think there is real commitment. We are looking for ways to work together to address this issue and have a collective impact. We are taking the recommendations of the report forward in Sheffield and working together with our partners…a freedom to innovate locally with partners and make a real difference for our citizens. There is a willingness to collaborate, one which puts people at the centre and to try a different approach to one that’s been flogged for the last ten years and not had the outcomes that we would have hoped for.”
Salma also discussed the core services of SHSC (which serves a population of some 600,000 in the Sheffield area) supporting people with mental health and learning disabilities. She highlighted a key strategic shift: “…we’ve spent a significant amount of time recently investing time with our primary care partners to develop an enhanced, integrated, mental health offer in primary care so that we can stop people needing to come into secondary care”
This shift from acute setting would no doubt receive support from Wes Streeting aligning as it does with one of his three key shifts for the NHS. But there is much more to do and Salma is candid about the mental health challenge facing the nation:
“I think the future of mental health care is about continuing to build on that, and investing in that integrated offer with social care, with the voluntary and community sector and primary care being at the heart of that offer”
To listen to the full episode, please visit here: www.newcrosshealthcare.com/voicesofcare
