Why have we created an ACP for Sheffield?

The simple answer is ‘because it’s the right thing to do’ and what we need to do to bring about the changes local people have told us that they want. Some of the reasons include:

• We know people want services to be more joined up: their problems and challenges don’t all sit neatly with one organisation so we need to change the way we work if we are really going to improve this. We need to stop the frustration people face trying to work their way through the different parts of the system to get the help they need. By changing how we work we will also remove much of the repetition and duplication that is happening now. This will free up valuable time and resources for both patients and staff.

• There are significant health inequalities in Sheffield, and despite the progress made in improving the health of the population over the last few years we know we have more to do. We need a much greater focus on prevention and to look at all factors that impact on health and wellbeing, not just the particular illness or injury.  
• We also need to make sure we can meet people’s needs in the future. Like the rest of the country, Sheffield has an aging population and growing demand for health and care services, and the resources available won’t be enough to meet our local needs in the future if we don’t look at doing things differently now.

Creating an ACP will remove some of the organisational and financial barriers which currently get in the way of transforming care for local people and help us to deliver real improvements to health and wellbeing.

Essentially, this is building on the work we are already doing to move towards a much more integrated way of working. Creating an ACP will provide a stronger framework for delivering our place-based plan - ‘Shaping Sheffield’ - that we have already committed to deliver over the next five years.

What is different this time?

We’ve talked about partnership working – and have been doing it well - for many years. But this is taking it much further and fundamentally changing how we work together so we can make changes on a scale that will have a big impact on everyone’s lives.

This is about rubbing out the boundaries between our organisations and managing our resources to ensure that every decision is based on what is best for health and wellbeing in Sheffield as a whole. It will be a big change in terms of how we work; providers will be contributing to prevention and addressing health inequalities and commissioners will need to focus on outcomes rather than activity, as is already happening in some areas.

The other big difference is the recognition of the need to address wider factors to improve health, which will be a consistent theme in all areas of our work. We need to tackle the cause of the issue, not just the symptoms. For example, that might mean getting the damp treated in the home of someone with asthma, tackling the contributory factor rather than simply treating them for the condition. This is a very different approach to the way we work now, but one that has been found to have significant benefits in areas that have tried it. 

What will this mean for people in Sheffield?

A lot of change has taken place over recent years, which has brought great benefits for many people. But we need to make this happen on a much bigger scale across the city.

For patients and service users, one of the biggest differences should be a truly joined up approach to their care, so all their needs are looked at as a whole and they do not have to be passed between different organisations’ systems and processes to get the care they need.

As an ACP, we will work to transform services, starting with those in the priority workstreams. The changes we want to make will mean that more advice, support and care will be available in communities helping people to access what they need closer to their homes and giving them the chance to lead independent and fulfilling lives as much as possible. Services will be more person-centred and people will also play a greater role in managing their health and wellbeing and be supported to self-care.

We will be involving Sheffield residents in developing our plans and any changes would of course be subject to consultation.