The Staffordshire Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) aims to integrate health and social care partnerships, focusing on strategic leadership and community engagement since its establishment in 2011. Despite initial commitment and collaboration, challenges persist in managing diverse partners, ceding power, and transitioning towards community-focused health strategies. Future efforts will involve enhanced joint strategies, integrated commissioning options, and a commitment to preventive care and public engagement.

1. Staffordshire health and
wellbeing board
Opportunities, challenges and the way ahead
Matthew Ellis
Cabinet Member – Adults & Wellbeing
(HWbB Chair)

2. Staffordshire partnerships –
before HWB
• CONTEXT June 2009 – one council – restructure
• Integrated health and social care partnership trust
• Staffordshire sector committed in principle to integrated
commissioning and health and wellbeing
• Cabinet member for public health/community safety
• Joint DPH appointment – located in county council
• Joint health and wellbeing strategy
• Joint commissioning unit
• Strategic plan with health and wellbeing outcomes

3. Establishing the health and wellbeing
board – the early days
• Commitment and interest from many partners in the HWB – But!
• Managing expectations of wider partners difficult – dealing with
who isn’t on the board, rather than who is – distracting and time
consuming – INWARD FOCUS
• Learning from past LAA partnerships – a need for more strategic,
outcome focused partnership – not ‘usual suspects’
• Stakeholder events
• Engagement and relationships of clinical commissioning groups
– county led on GP events – ‘understanding new partnerships,
each other’s worlds, trust and new opportunities – limited
knowledge of social care

4. Staffordshire health and wellbeing
board membership
• 3 cabinet members: adults wellbeing (Chair), children, public
health and community safety
• 2 district councillors (rep. 8 districts and borough councils)
• Director of public health
• Director for people
• 5 clinical commissioning groups – GPs (not co-terminus)
• Chair LINk
• Chief Constable – community safety link to health and
wellbeing
• PCC – future

5. Where are we now?
• HWB meeting monthly since October 2011
• Focus on strategic leadership, common purpose, trust
• Agreed HWB vision, purpose, principles and approach
• Limited commitment to pooling and aligning resource where
sensible to do so – words easy! – achieving more difficult
• Endorsed JSNA
• Agreed early outcomes and priorities – alcohol, long-term conditions
(risk strategy), obesity, children and troubled families
• Work on enhanced JSNA and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy
• Working integrated Health and Social Care Community Partnership
Trust now making a practical difference
• Developing options for integrated commissioning
• Ambition to develop sector wide resource investment, repay,
reward formulaic approach – is it possible?

6. Strengths and opportunities
• 2 (out of 3) ‘Acutes’ dedicated workstreams
• New approach for integrated engagement of public and
patients across large geographical areas and services –
through ‘Engaging Communities Staffordshire’ (host
Healthwatch)
• Integrated Staffordshire public health team – across ‘people
and place’
• Commitment to integrated commissioning – specialist support
from The King’s Fund – working with the county and cogs on
options for integrated commissioning

7. Challenges
• Diversity and complexity of a two-tier county
• Rural and urban, financially diverse population
• Layers of complexity to partnership not found in unitary
• 5 clinical commissioning groups
• 8 districts (2 tier responsibilities / LEP / transport negotiations)
• Many providers – how to meaningfully engage?
• Power, influence, as is. Will the ‘centre’ genuinely liberate
and enable localism in the NHS? CSS?

8. Challenges cont…
• Trust, ceding power, politics/tough decisions/GPs prepared?
• NHS long-term strategic infrastructure planning
• Doing the right thing and managing unpopular messages with
the community – eg, the strategic shift to prevention and
greater focus on community means fewer hospitals
• Early days – CCGs keen and willing – but all at very different
levels of development
• Double funding change
• Strategic provider engagement with HWB

9. Where are we going? The journey ahead?
• Relationships and partnership with developing CCGs remains
key
• Reviewing commissioning plans
• Enhanced JSNA & JHWS
• Ongoing work with The King’s Fund, county council and
CCGs on integrated commissioning – options in October
• More investment in prevention
• Social media
• Public engagement