News

Solace is today (Sept 3 2021) proud to launch our new report ‘Delivering together for residents:
How collaborative working in places and communities can make a difference’.

This new publication captures emerging best practice from eight local partnerships across the
country where local government working with colleagues in health, housing and the voluntary
sectors are having a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of their local communities. It
focuses, through a series of case studies, on the challenges, achievements, barriers and learnings
from those who are working on the front line to enhance health and care outcomes, address wider
determinants of health and tackle inequalities.

Produced in collaboration with NHS England and NHS Improvement this is a particularly timely
publication as the Government presses ahead with plans to establish new integrated care systems
as legal entities across the country by April 2022, with place-based partnerships a key and essential
component.

Paul Najsarek, Solace spokesperson for Health & Social Care, said: “With Integrated Care Systems
(ICSs) being established across England, the potential for us as partners to go even further and
make real improvements to the lives of the people we serve is immense.

“ICSs are bringing local councils, health and care services and voluntary organisations together to
work with communities to find new ways to ensure everyone has timely access to the treatment
and support they need. ICS partners have a shared vision to reduce health inequalities in their
communities, support broader social and economic development and enable residents to live
healthy, independent lives, as they want to.

“While some ICSs are relatively new and are still finding out what works best for their area, already
there are outstanding examples of partnership working across England which are improving the
health and wellbeing of so many people. How we work nationally, regionally and locally to enable
these partnerships to flourish will be so important for the future of the people and places we serve.

“At Solace we are committed to strengthening the ways in which local authorities and the NHS
work together. It is only through genuine partnership working that we will be able to collectively
deliver better outcomes for our residents. So, as we focus on recovery from the pandemic, we must
harness the desire to break down barriers at all levels, play to our respective strengths, and work
together towards a common purpose. If we do that we will be better able to prevent and treat
illness, and therefore drive up the quality of people’s lives.”

In recent years, local government, the NHS and voluntary organisations have increasingly come
together to find innovative ways to address shared challenges associated with long-term health
conditions. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic the pace of integration between these
partners has accelerated, as well as the appetite for joint working going forward.

This report, therefore, should be of interest to any organisation that commissions or provides
health, social care, public health as well as other locally delivered services, especially in the context
of the creation of ICSs.

Commenting on the report, Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive, said: “Throughout the
pandemic local communities have worked together, not least in helping the NHS deliver its most
successful vaccination programme in history, protecting millions of people and saving thousands of
lives.

“This report sets out more ways we can continue to work together, using the experience and
expertise of partners locally and nationally, to put in place convenient services that keep people
healthy and well at every stage of their life – not just by diagnosing and treating conditions but by
working together to prevent them.”