Sue Symington smiling and the text 'As I see it - the latest blog from Sue Symington'

As I see it – the latest blog from Sue Symington

We are firmly moving into the summer months as I write this latest blog, and the first week of July brings with it two significant dates which I want to reflect on and acknowledge.

On Saturday (1 July 2023), it was one year since NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board was established, putting the Health and Care Partnership on a statuary footing. There is more about what the establishment of the ICB means in this article published last year.

Throughout these first 12 months, we have also been establishing our Integrated Care Partnership (ICP). The ICP is a statutory committee which connects the ICB and Local Government, focussing on the connections between health and the wider determinants of health, such as socio-economic development, employment and environment. The ICP is developing well and last week the committee meeting was held in a public domain for the first time, details of this can be found by clicking here.

The ICP has now produced an integrated strategy to set out how we, as partners, will address the health, social care and public health needs of our population. This strategy can be found by clicking here.

The other key date which takes place this week is the NHS celebrating its 75th anniversary on Wednesday 5 July. Since 1948 the NHS has continued to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the population and today treats over a million people every day across England.

To celebrate this incredible milestone, the NHS is collaborating with Parkrun UK to encourage staff, volunteers and local communities to take part in Parkrun for the NHS on Saturday 8 July. There are 21 Parkruns across Humber and North Yorkshire and people can walk, jog, run or volunteer to get involved.

I’m going to finish my blog by sharing my congratulations to all involved in what is a fantastic example of partnership working, as the East Riding DREaMS (Digital Records Enabling and Management Support) project has recently won a Health Service Journal Digital Award.

As well as East Riding’s Adult Social Care Team, DREaMS works with neighbouring councils, digital teams and health and care partners to engage with care providers across the region and support them in becoming digitally enabled.