Local health and care leaders welcome NHS England chiefs to Blackpool

Leading officials from NHS England have been in Blackpool this week to find out more about the innovative and collaborative approaches being taken to improve the health of the local population.

The group of delegates, which included the NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard, chair Richard Meddings, deputy chair Sir Andrew Morris, and chief nursing officer Duncan Barton, visited Blackpool Teaching Hospital, Trinity Hospice, Whitegate Drive Health Centre, The Harbour mental health hospital, FCMS and Broadway Pharmacy, and Revoelution community group between Wednesday and Friday where they were shown how the collaborative ways of working between the NHS and the council are starting to have a positive impact.

Kevin Lavery, chief executive of Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), which organises healthcare services in the region, said: “The visits we have arranged this week encapsulate some of the real opportunities we have across Lancashire and South Cumbria through collaboration and partnerships, and highlight where we need to transform how we work.  

“It was important to us to highlight some of the realities that our communities are facing, but also we wanted to showcase a number of services that are achieving some amazing things, despite the difficult circumstances.”

Blackpool is one of the most challenged areas in Lancashire and South Cumbria, as well as nationally, but there is great work coming together to address some of the stark issues. For example, residents of Blackpool have the lowest life expectancy in England, and, pertinently, the lowest ‘healthy life expectancy’ of 46.5 years, which means people are living with a disability or poor health at a much younger age.

Local NHS and partner organisations were able to meet with national colleagues and demonstrate the work they are doing to tackle health inequalities that local residents face, such as historically high smoking rates, and excess weight and obesity rates that are significantly higher than England average. 

Some examples of collaboration that the NHS England delegates were shown during their visit included the new emergency village – a critical care unit and same day emergency care unit at Blackpool Teaching Hospital, while they also met with staff at FCMS who are working with Public Health to address low MMR vaccine uptake in the area, and the National Lottery-funded Revoelution initiative that is addressing community-raised issues through various projects and activities.

Kevin Lavery continued: “The problem is when we focus on the numbers it is easy to forget that these are real people, living in real communities, with real hardships and complexity within their lives.

“Our role as an ICB is to support preventative approaches and improve population health, strengthen community services and find better ways to deliver integrated care in a person-centred and compassionate way.

“This week we have shown some great examples of collaboration, care from our staff and partners, where we have made bold decisions and made great progress in the midst of financial challenges. The week was about getting the thoughts from those who have the position and influence to support us and help us to be able to do more and go further.”