Plymouth MP helps launch funding conversation about Health and Wellbeing strategy to Government minister
Plymouth Moor View MP Johnny Mercer, alongside Council Leader Tudor Evans, has led a group of Plymouth’s health and social care leaders at a meeting in Westminster to bid for increased funding.
They were there to start a conversation about additional funding opportunities for the city’s Health and Wellbeing Hubs Programme with Stephen Barclay MP, Minister of State for the Department of Health and Social Care.
“It is great to be part of a team in Plymouth that is committed to improving services by taking a different approach”
The team included Plymouth’s Director of Public Health Dr Ruth Harrell, Sophia Christie, who is system lead chief executive for Devon STP (sustainability and transformation partnership) and the county’s two clinical commissioning groups, and Plymouth City Council’s strategic director for people Carole Burgoyne.
The team met the Minister to highlight their new approach to health, wellbeing and social care across the city which will see a dozen wellbeing hubs open across neighbourhoods over the next two years as part of an initiative designed to focus on prevention and making services easier to access.
The hubs were officially launched at the Jan Cutting Healthy Living Centre in March by Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, and are a joint scheme run by Plymouth City Council and the NHS.
The scheme hopes to reduce the pressure on GPs across the city as well as Derriford Hospital by helping people to access a range of services to support health and wellbeing in their local area, linking them up with community and voluntary groups, improving people’s experience of care and reducing inequalities in health and wellbeing.
The meeting’s aim was to highlight to the Minister the way in which organisations across Plymouth, from the public sector to the community and voluntary sector, are working together to improve health and wellbeing, rising to the challenge of making the health and social care system sustainable, and discuss potential opportunities to help us to expand our aims even further.
Johnny Mercer said:
“Healthcare for me is the prominent challenge in Plymouth. I – along with other city leaders – have worked tirelessly in what has been a restricted financial environment to meet what is an existential challenge in demand to our healthcare services, ever since I was elected.
“This was our flagship programme, and I was delighted with the opportunity to showcase what we are doing, and potentially receive extra funding, to make these efforts a reality. I am enormously grateful to council officers who continue to work extremely hard on this project for the people of Plymouth, and to Tudor Evans for championing the drive within the council.
“I truly believe that these health and wellbeing hubs are a vital part of tackling the GP shortages and problems in Primary care, as well as the pressure on Accident and Emergency at Derriford Hospital, and we must keep going.”
Sophia Christie said:
“It is great to be part of a team in Plymouth that is committed to improving services by taking a different approach. We all know there is immense pressure on our health and social care system which is why it is so important for us all to work together and think differently about how we better support people to live as well and as independently as possible. I’m really pleased we were able to meet with the Minister to highlight the changes we are making in Plymouth.”
Council Leader Tudor Evans said:
“It was great to be part of a delegation that included not just the council but the CCGs too. We were able to assure the Minister that we would be able to rapidly roll out a network of health and wellbeing hubs, to help people live independent, more satisfying, healthy lives.
“I was pleased with the way the meeting went. Mr Barclay seemed very engaged in what we were offering to do to support the health system in Plymouth.”
