Surrey Heartlands - the next five years of Health and Social Care in Elmbridge

What's happening to health and social care in our area? Quite a lot actually! The NHS has launched a programme to improve joined up working across health and social care services and is seeking to improve community provision for vulnerable groups - especially the frail elederly. The mechanism for achieving this is locally based Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs). Citizens of Elmbridge come under the Surrey Heartlands STP, which includes Surrey County Council, the two CCGs covering Elmbridge, and other healthcare providers. As Surrey Heartlands has a much larger than average older population, there is a focus in the plan on improving serrvices for this group. Just to paint the picture, over the next 10 years the number of people aged 85+ will go up by 36% and by 2025 more than 20% of the population in our area will be aged 65+. Public Engagement is also a key feature of the partnership working that is central to the new approach. This is seen as a way to involve citizens in "defining the priorities and trade-offs that will be needed to achieve this service transformation, within the resources available locally." A further feature of the plan is to trial devolution of powers and budget to Surrey Heartlands (see p10 in the plan). This is designed to enable "full integration with Surrey County Council, integrating health and care delivery with the wider determinants of health in our population" If anyone is interested in getting involved as a community stakeholder, there is a stakeholder reference group meeting on 18 October at Leatherhead Leisure Centre, Guildford Road, Leatherhead starting at 2 pm. There is also a Surrey Heartlands Newsletter. The contact person for both of these is: glynis.mcdonald@nhs.net The Surrey Heartlands Sustainability and Transormation Plan can be found at www.nwsurreyccg.nhs.uk/surreyheartlands/Documents/Surrey%20Heartlands%20STP%20October%202016.pdf The Devolution Agreement document can be found at www.nwsurreyccg.nhs.uk/surreyheartlands/PublishingImages/Pages/News/Devolution%20Agreement.pdf