Throughout the last 20 years, life expectancy in the population we serve has remained lower than the national average. As an organisation with primary, secondary and community care services, we are in a unique position to affect the health of our Population.
Over the next five years, there are two areas of focus in our Population strategic objective: Seamless Care, and Health and Wealth.
- Seamless Care
2022 sees policy change in the way the health and care sector is structured. This means that we are encouraged to collaborate more with other partners in health and care so that we can deliver services in a more seamless and impactful way. The policy creates three formal collaborative groups:
• The Place Based Partnership (PBP) which affects communities at a Town and
Neighbourhood level;
• The Provider Collaborative (PC), which brings together the Black Country hospital
Trusts into a peer network;
• The Integrated Care System (ICS), which coordinates system working across the
Black Country. - At Place level (town and neighbourhood), the focus is upon managing demand more effectively by providing better support in community and primary care. At a System level (Black Country), focus is upon solving inequalities in service capacity and workforce challenges through collaboration.
We are the host organisation for Sandwell PBP as part of our ICS which covers the Black Country. We also participate in the Ladywood and Perry Barr PBP in West Birmingham, which will become part of the Birmingham and Solihull ICS.
Health and Wealth
Research tells us that the care that healthcare organisations give only accounts for up to 25 per cent of health outcomes, and other factors such as living and working conditions have a greater impact. As a large organisation that will always be rooted in Sandwell and West Birmingham, we have purchasing and employing power.
We can choose to spend our budget and employ locally, which will positively impact our community and its economy.
This is known as being an ‘Anchor Institution’. Over the next five years, we will use our economic power locally to positively affect the lives of our population.
The development of our new hospital, Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH), is a great example of how we are using our organisational power as a force for community good.
Environmental issues such as global warming and air quality also affect the quality of life in our communities.
Our award winning sustainability team have developed a new Green Plan which will tackle our impact on our environment as part of the national NHS objective to deliver net zero emissions by 2040.