Alumni story / Wellbeing focus

Wellbeing Erewash is a new approach to improving health and wellbeing. The new care model, set up as a multi-specialty community provider (MCP) as part of NHS England’s vanguard programme, involves the people of Erewash, the local NHS, social care and the voluntary sector. The aim is to encourage thriving communities within Erewash, where people feel confident and supported to choose a healthier lifestyle, stay well, and know how to get help and support when needed.

There are 12 GP practices in Erewash with a registered population of 97,000 people. The health of local people is varied compared to the England average. Deprivation is lower than average across the borough but there are pockets of high deprivation within the registered population - particularly in parts of Ilkeston and Long Eaton.

The MCP is a partnership between NHS Erewash Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (community services), Derbyshire Health United (out-of-hours and 111 provider), Derbyshire Healthcare NHS

Foundation Trust (mental health and specialist community) and Erewash Health (GP provider). It also works very closely with the voluntary and social care sector.

The vanguards were established following the publication of the Five Year Forward View which gave a clear message that the NHS needs to adapt and evolve to meet the challenges that it now faces. Nationally people are living longer with more complex health issues – this is no different in Erewash. To meet these challenges, the health system must look beyond the short term and work together across health and care organisations to make the changes needed.

The focus has been on three areas:

1. Personal resilience – supporting individuals to be as healthy as they can be, looking after themselves and knowing where to get help when they need it
2. Community resilience – making sure support is available and easy to find in the local community, and encouraging people to look out for each other
3. Integrated care – bringing services together to suit the person, not the organisations involved

These priority areas are interlinked. Resilient people help to develop resilient communities, with individuals and communities being supported by joined-up integrated care as and when needed.

A number of projects have been set up within these three focus areas. Within primary and integrated care, they include the creation of an on-day service, community GP, and acute home visiting service. Within resilience, they include Brilliant Erewash, Erewash Time Swap, community connectors, and strengthening the resources of the voluntary sector.

The vanguard funding comes to an end in March 2018. Much of the work is set to be taken forward beyond this date by the Erewash Alliance Board, dependent on future resources, priorities and evaluation of success of the various programmes. Wellbeing Erewash is a major part of the Derbyshire sustainability and transformation plan (STP). One of the key elements of the STP is ‘place-based’ care, whereby services work together for the benefit of the local community.

Local GP Duncan Gooch and MCP community and personal resilience lead Sara Baines will talk more about the programme at the HFMA’s mental health workforce forum in February.

To book your place at the event, please click here.