Forum Central has been sent the following survey and information from the Communications and Involvement Team of the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
This is relevant to healthcare professionals and people who utilise ‘NHS Continuing Health Care‘ services in Leeds – which is the NHS provision of paid for health and social care services (such as assisted living) for some people with long-term complex health needs.
The policy for ‘NHS Continuing Healthcare’ services (CHC) in Leeds is being updated to align it with West Yorkshire, under one common policy.
Changes may affect those who currently have a Continuing Healthcare (CHC) package when that comes under review.
Complete the Survey
Complete the NHS continuing healthcare in West Yorkshire online survey via this link.
Deadline: Sunday 13th October 2024.
Contact [email protected]t or [email protected] with any questions.
Launch of engagement period: West Yorkshire Continuing Healthcare Policy
The WYICB has launched an involvement exercise to hear from individuals, families and carers who are in receipt of Continuing Healthcare Funded NHS services, particularly in Bradford District and Craven and Leeds.
Background
Some people with long-term complex health needs qualify for free health and social care arranged and funded solely by the NHS. This is known as NHS continuing healthcare.
Integrated care boards, known as ICBs (the NHS organisations that commission local health services), assess people for NHS continuing healthcare if it seems individuals may need it.
For most people, there’s an initial checklist assessment, which is used to decide if you need a full assessment. However, if people need care urgently – for example, if they are terminally ill – their assessment may be fast-tracked.
In West Yorkshire, the commissioning process is different in some places and as part of our commitment to reduce unwarranted variation in how services are commissioned and provided, we are working towards one West Yorkshire wide Continuing Healthcare Policy that will enable our five places (Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) to manage the Continuing Healthcare (CHC) ‘offer’ more consistently and transparently. Although each of the five places are operating under this policy for all newly eligible fully funded CHC packages of care, it has not been agreed formally at a West Yorkshire level and therefore, those places where a similar policy was not already formally agreed are unable to apply the policy at review of CHC packages.
Using insight, feedback and intelligence from each of our five places that make up West Yorkshire, we have developed a set of principles and an initial policy which is in the latter stages of development. A copy of the draft policy is available here.
At the point of adoption of a common West Yorkshire policy, the impact will not be equal across each of our five places. The principles included in the draft West Yorkshire Policy have been in use for both the initial package of care development and review of CHC packages in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield for a significant amount of time, and will not result in a change for the populations of these places. Therefore, we will not engage fully with those in direct receipt of NHS Continuing Healthcare services, or indeed their families and carers in these locations as there is no change to how their care is reviewed. That said, the engagement exercise we will undertake is open to everyone in West Yorkshire, so people are welcome to share their feedback, regardless whether the new policy affects them or not.
For Bradford District and Craven and Leeds the new policy will be applied at review to CHC packages and our local communities in these places are encouraged to share their views as part of the engagement exercise.
Where we’re at now, and who we really want to hear from
The draft refreshed policy is now available and a short survey has been developed for everyone in Bradford District and Craven and Leeds who currently benefit from CHC services, providing them with an opportunity to comment on the refreshed policy – although families, carers and those in receipt of CHC funded services are more than welcome to share their views as well.
The survey will be open for four weeks and is available here: NHS Continuing Healthcare in West Yorkshire link to Survey
A set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available and we will keep adding to these if we receive any additional questions over the engagement period.
Direct engagement with individuals who will be particularly impacted by the new policy, particularly those individuals, families and carers in Bradford District and Craven and Leeds will start in November. This will be done in a targeted way to reflect the views of community and campaign groups, as well as those with lesser heard voices across West Yorkshire.
What will happen after the engagement period
Prior to the policy being operationalised across West Yorkshire, we will use every piece of feedback we receive during the time we engage with our people and communities across West Yorkshire, particularly those in Bradford District and Craven and Leeds. We will also use previous feedback, intelligence, insight, complaint feedback and PALS information to inform the final policy.
Our final policy, informed by our people and communities across West Yorkshire will be published on our website, along with core groups we engage with during the engagement period.
Questions
A number of ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ have been published on the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership website and will continue to updated throughout the engagement period.
Equally, if you have any further questions which would be helpful to add to the existing FAQs, please do send these by email: [email protected]t .
