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Blog from our Chair- The NHS Long Term Plan and staying well this winter

Blog from our Chair- The NHS Long Term Plan and staying well this winter
04 February 2019

Hi All,

Welcome to my first blog. For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Dr Tim Moorhead, Chair of NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and I am also a GP of 22 years, currently a Senior Partner at Oughtibridge Surgery in Sheffield. In my spare time I’m a keen musician and I play piano and saxophone in three local bands playing big band jazz, funk and soul music - I like to keep busy!

I have decided to start writing a monthly blog about my work at the CCG, and in the wider health care system, to give you an insight in to the work we are doing here in Sheffield to improve and transform the health and wellbeing of our communities.

The CCG Governing Body is responsible for NHS clinical commissioning decisions across Sheffield. The group meets formally every other month in public, I chair the meetings and a mixture of NHS clinicians, experienced NHS managers and lay members attend. Each month in this blog I will give you a brief update of what was discussed at these meetings. You can view the papers from past meetings on our website here.

You may have seen in the news that the NHS Long Term Plan was published recently. This national plan has been developed in partnership with health and care staff, patients and their families and lists a number of important ambitions for NHS for the next few years. Maddy Ruff, our Accountable Officer, and I have been involved in national groups that have helped shape the plan and I’m pleased that it mirrors what we have planned for health and social care here in Sheffield.

It’s really positive and encouraging to see that there is a national focus on things like community care, prevention and reducing inequalities, all things that are already priorities for the CCG and our health and care partners in Sheffield. I’m personally very passionate about reducing health inequalities so I am pleased to see this is a national priority.

The publication of the plan was good timing as at the first Governing Body of 2019, which took place on the 10th January, we discussed our main plans for the coming year - we refer to these as our commissioning intentions. These set the scene for what we need to deliver during the year, how we will do this and what we will be investing in. We have 9 ambitions this year and we are challenging ourselves to achieve these. Some of the areas we will be investing in are primary care, mental health, community care – all really important areas to us and the people of Sheffield and highlighted as priorities in the national plan.

You can view the long term plan here, at the moment the plan has high level ambitions and how these will be achieved is still being worked out but we are confident that we can realise these for our city.

Finally, before I sign off, I’d just like to remind you all to stay safe and well as the weather gets colder. There are lots of viruses that are more prevalent in the winter months including colds, flu and sickness bugs and I’ve certainly seen an increase of patients in my practice suffering from these winter illnesses over the past couple of months. If you do start to feel ill, visit your local pharmacist in the first instance. They’re really knowledgeable and can provide you with advice on the best medicines to take, they can also advise whether you need to see a doctor or not.

As the weather gets cold and icy, there is also an increased risk of injuries due to trips and falls, particularly for older people. As I write this, snow is being forecast, so make sure you keep warm and dry and stay inside if possible. Remember to keep an eye out for elderly or vulnerable neighbours and relatives during the winter, make sure they’re keeping warm and have enough food and prescription medicine at home.

You can find more information about the best services to use if you’re ill or injured, and tips on staying well during the winter, on our website here.

I’m always keen to hear from the public and patients about the work we are doing, if you have any comments or suggestion about this blog, or any of the CCGs work, please drop me an email on sheccg.comms@nhs.net.

Until next time,

Tim

NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group

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722 Prince of Wales Road
Sheffield
S9 4EU

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