Calderdale Cares celebrates its first year anniversary in joining health services together

Closer partnerships between the Council, Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group, Calderdale and Huddersfield Hospital Trust and the community and voluntary sector are already having a significant impact in people’s lives according to the local authority.

The achievements of the last 12 months are outlined within a Cabinet report which will be discussed on Monday.

These include a reduction in the number of patients whose discharge from hospital is delayed because appropriate care in the community is unavailable.

Hospital readmission rates have also improved significantly according to the report.

Leader of Calderdale Council, Cllr Tim Swift said: “Calderdale Cares is already delivering results, making real improvements to the lives of our residents by providing the services they need in the community in which they live.

“Our focus is on promoting active and healthy communities, to improve general health, provide support where it is needed and to reduce the demand for hospital and GP services.

“Over the next 12 months Calderdale Cares will have a major role in helping us to deliver some of our key early intervention and prevention work, such as our Anti-Poverty Action Plan and our Active Calderdale campaign.”

In December 2018 Ofsted judged the Council’s Children’s Services to be good with outstanding features, which was a reflection of the hard work and commitment not just of Council officers but also of its partners across the health and care system.

And in a major independent survey published in February 2019, public service consultancy iMPOWER listed Calderdale Council as one of the top 10 councils in the country for adult social care.

The consultancy ranked 150 local authorities by examining performance using 25 indicators across three categories – older adults, all age disability, and health and social care.

Finally in December 2018, NHS England awarded £197m to improve hospital services in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield, which will help to ensure people receive timely, high quality and safe planned and unplanned hospital care whenever it is needed.