The next meeting of the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups in Lancashire and South Cumbria is on Thursday 7th March at South Ribble Civic Centre in Leyland.

We asked the Healthwatch Collaborative to help us hear from local people and to explore how they currently use technology to manage their health and wellbeing and that of their families, learn about the challenges people might face when using digital technology, understand how we can better support people to use digital tools and hear ideas about improvements we could make in the future. The resulting report was published by Healthwatch in February 2019, and we will use the recommendations made by local people to inform the digital delivery plan for 2019/20 as we bring the digital strategy to life.

At the end of 2018 we were selected by NHS England as one of four accelerator sites for Population Health Management, which is running from January to May 2019. Population Health Management involves understanding our communities better and designing person centred care to support people in living longer, healthier lives. We were selected for the accelerated programme based on data connectivity across systems, senior leadership buy in and resources being available to support a 20-week accelerator programme. This will see us strengthening our capabilities for Population Health Management beyond the 20 weeks.

Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria is encouraging local people to consider careers in adult social care in support of the national ‘Every day is different when you care’ campaign, launched this week by the Department for Health and Social Care.

Lung cancer scanning trucks that operate from supermarket car parks are being rolled out in Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen as part of a country-wide drive to save lives by catching the condition early, NHS England announced today.

A new five-year contract for general practice across England will see billions of extra investment for improved access to family doctors, expanded services at local practices and longer appointments for patients who need them.

Nearly half a million pounds is going to be spent in local communities across Lancashire and South Cumbria, tackling the factors which have the greatest impact on people’s health. The £471,000 investment from NHS England will be used to design better care around our communities’ needs, a priority described in the NHS Long Term Plan. 

New funding is being announced today for innovative community-based Lancashire and South Cumbria projects to help reduce the numbers of people taking their own lives.

General practices across Lancashire and South Cumbria are transforming the way they work to improve services for patients. They are joining together as groups of practices working with community service providers and other health and care organisations – a partnership known as primary care networks. 

Health leaders across Lancashire and South Cumbria have welcomed the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan. The plan outlines the priorities for the health service over the next decade. It describes how the NHS will make sure people get the best start in life, and how patients can expect world-class care for major health problems.

The eight Clinical Commissioning Groups across Lancashire and South Cumbria have all agreed that there is a need to review their clinical policies in order to: ensure a consistent and fair approach; update current policies in accordance with National Guidelines and best clinical practice and to make sure it is using its limited resources to maximum effect.

The Joint Committee of CCGs has been cancelled on Thursday 10th January as the agenda had been structured to focus around the NHS Long Term Plan which has not yet been published.

The Central Lancashire and North Lancashire DESMOND team has won the Team of the Year award in the Celebrating DESMOND Annual Awards Programme.   

In July 2018, students from schools in Lancashire and Cumbria took part in our Digital Healthy Schools event at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. As part of our celebrations of the 70th birthday of the NHS this year, we recorded their ideas about what the NHS might look like in 70 years' time. These have now been brought to life in a short animation.

£21 million of capital investment from Government for Lancashire and South Cumbria will see the development of an Integrated Acute Mental Health Hub and an upgrade to the emergency department and critical care at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.