Forum Central continues to work as part of the Leeds Integrated Care Board (ICB – i.e. the Leeds office of the West Yorkshire NHS structure that replaced the CCG in 2022). The ICB partners are developing collective plans for addressing the huge current NHS funding challenges alongside the development of the partnership, scope, objectives, and structure for new ways of operating. Here is the latest update: Partnership Development Work Overview – October 23 Update.

Following a meeting with Tim Ryley, the Leeds Integrated Care Board place lead, and a Partnership Development session last month we have gathered our members on our collective response to the proposals that have been developed to reduce and reshape 2024/5 spend. We have requested the following items (see numbered section below)

In September a letter was issued to all NHS contract / grant funded providers (Third sector, NHS and independent sector) outlining a potential 3% cut applied evenly across all contract and non-contract elements of the NHS budget in Leeds as a back stop position. There is opportunity for population and care boards to discuss alternative means of meeting the same level of savings between now and March. This position is also set out in this update from the ICB, branded at place as the Leeds Health and Care Partnership: Leeds Health Care Partnership Finance update Sept 2023

We are also finalising a review of Leeds Response to the 7 West Yorkshire recommendations in the March Harnessing the Power of Communities ICB Paper.

We really value any specific examples of contract renegotiations, uplifts or deficits, challenges, and details if you are happy to share them please get in touch. If you have any feedback or want to understand more about this contact [email protected] or feed in through your usual Forum Central specialism contact.

 

Forum Central is keen to seek to work with the ICB partners to develop:

  1. A Commissioning Framework for 3rd sector including:

    1. Collaborative working between Third Sector and statutory providers

    2. Inflationary uplift to 3rd sector contracts to reflect pay award equivalent to NHS and non-pay inflation equivalent to NHS (and subject to same efficiency saving as NHS) through re-profile of the 3% cut that the ICB is proposing.

    3. Ceasing of review of Third Sector contracts purely based on timing

  1. Fair and open scrutiny of all spend – NHS and Third Sector. This will require more transparency/timely sharing of information.

  1. Consideration of all investment / disinvestment decisions in the context of Marmot City, Staten Island and community based approaches and outcomes in addition to the medical model.

  1. Transparency and engagement of the whole system in challenging conversations at a whole system level rather than at the level of individual contracts or populations – what do we stop doing to allow us to do the things that will really make a change?

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