Improving the health and wellbeing of our communities is a shared responsibility and, here in Derby, we're taking a whole systems approach to try to make a difference.

Through the Integrated Care Partnership, we're collaborating with Derbyshire County Council, the NHS Integrated Care Board and the voluntary sector. Our ‘Stay Well’ work focuses on circulatory disease, respiratory disease and cancer. We’ve teamed up to develop joint solutions to help smoking cessation and are now looking at obesity.

One of my priorities is tackling childhood obesity, another good example of collaborative working via the input of steering group partners. We've developed a strategy and an action plan and now offer, for example, better weight management services and nutrition advice for parents. I was proud to lead the Council in signing up to the Healthy Weight Declaration, which aims to make living healthily a possibility for everyone.

I chair the Derby Health and Wellbeing Board where, with our partners, we work to improve health and reduce health inequalities. Our recent meeting focused on children's safeguarding, infant mortality and child poverty, recognising the link between poverty and children's well-being. Whilst we can't influence directly all the causes of poverty, we're working together to try to lessen its impact on families.

The Council and Derbyshire Community Health Services (DCHS) have developed a formal partnership to provide the Community First service, which aims to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and delivers discharge support while assessing long-term needs. By bringing together previously separate services, Community First can streamline operations, making the most efficient use of staff time and improving the service for everyone.

Most people are still mainly supported by their family and friends and listening to, and improving, support to unpaid carers has been another priority for me. I have led Carers’ Forums events to look at how the role of carers can be better supported by the health and social care system. As a result, several projects are being developed with the aim of improving co-production with carers and enhancing the universal services delivered by the Council and our healthcare partners.

There is much work to do, yet, from prevention measures to integrated care services, we're striving to work together to create a healthier future for everyone in Derby and Derbyshire.

We aim to celebrate and share good examples of how partners across the health and care system are working together to achieve our shared missions.

This month's newsletter includes:

• Dementia diagnosis rates rise above national average
• How water-based rehabilitation helps reduce pain
• Patient case studies show impact of Team Up
• Showcase of work to tackle health inequalities
• Pharmacy First helps tens of thousands to get better
• Change a child's life and your own

We hope you enjoy reading about what is happening in our health and care system. If you would like to contribute an article or share your great work, please email ddicb.communications@nhs.net. 

More people are being diagnosed with dementia and therefore getting the help and support they need, thanks to a successful programme in Derby and Derbyshire.

The percentage of people diagnosed, compared to the estimated total number, stood at 67.9% in December, the last month for which figures are available.

This compared to the England average of 65.6% and the national target of 66.7%.

It is a steady increase since diagnosis rates plummeted from 72% pre-2020, to 62.5% in December 2022, after the impact of Covid caused many services to be suspended.

The rising diagnosis rate has also been achieved despite an estimated 30% increase in the numbers of people who have dementia over the past 10 years, due to the ageing population.

Dr Justin Walker, Derby and Derbyshire clinical lead for dementia, said: "Getting a diagnosis of dementia is important because it means people can help themselves, be supported if they know about it and plan for the future.

"They can adapt the way they live, it helps their family and friends and, when people have advanced dementia, it helps their carers and clinical professionals to support them appropriately.

"They can get support from local groups, they can apply for financial help or with social care and there are also drugs available that slow the onset of dementia."

Read more

Ambulance and mental health professionals have teamed up to provide a more appropriate response to mental health crisis incidents.

Mental health incidents are currently the reason for the fourth largest on scene attendance for East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS).

Now a new mental health response vehicle crewed with an EMAS paramedic and mental health clinician from Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

The vehicle will predominantly be dispatched to mental health incidents between 4pm – 12am in Derbyshire, seven days a week.

It has already had a big impact in reducing the numbers of people taken to hospital A&E.

In 2023 in Derbyshire, 55% of patients experiencing a mental health crisis attended by an ambulance were taken to A&E.

In November 2024, where the new mental health response vehicle attended a patient in a mental health crisis, just 12% of patients were then taken to A&E.

Read more

By Lauren Slater, Activity and Wellbeing Manager, Moorways Sports Village

Hundreds of people who are affected by joint pain, neurological conditions and other long-term conditions have been supported to improve their condition through water-based rehabilitation at Moorways Sports Village in Derby.

Healthcare professionals at Royal Derby Hospital and Florence Nightingale Hospital have been particularly proactive at recommending patients onto the Good Boost programme as an exit route after treatment in their hydrotherapy pool.

This has enabled patients to continue their aqua based rehabilitation in a community setting, without having to go back on a waiting list to access the hydrotherapy pool at the hospital, which is in high demand.

The Good Boost programme is a nationally-recognised personalised therapeutic exercise and rehabilitation, on land and in water.

Good Boost started as a community health research project in public swimming pools in Oxford and it launched as a social enterprise in 2018.

At Moorways Sports Village, operated by Everyone Active, the sessions take place in our accessible pool which has a moveable floor, enabling us to adjust the pool depth to the needs of the participants.

Read more

A new set of case studies showing the positive impact of NHS Derby and Derbyshire’s flagship Team Up transformation programme for patients is now available.

The examples show how the teams improve people’s health – this includes helping them with issues such as housing, debt and isolation as well as clinical and medication issues.

The anonymous stories include a lady who lived on a barge in unsuitable conditions and needed new housing, a lady who hoarded medication but would not engage with services and a patient who had been evicted from the YMCA but needed to keep taking crucial medication.

Team Up Derbyshire has introduced 12 locally led teams across health and social care in Derby and Derbyshire. They are providing home visiting, urgent community response and falls recovery, simplifying pathways and adding extra capacity. It is an example of integrated neighbourhood working, recently hailed by the Darzi report as a key model for future NHS working.

Read more

ICB Chair Dr Kathy McLean was treated to a tour of the renovations at Barrow Hill Memorial Hall Hub with colleagues from the Chesterfield Place Alliance during her latest visit to see integrated care in action.

Dr McLean met with representatives from Chesterfield Borough Council, Active Derbyshire, the Barrow Hill Community Trust, general practice, Derbyshire Voluntary Action and local Community Interest Company Community Growth as part of the day at the Haven community centre.

They discussed the background to partnership working to reduce health inequalities in Barrow Hill, a suburb of Chesterfield. The area has a population of nearly 1,500 but is one of the most deprived areas in Derbyshire where life expectancy is almost 10 years shorter than in neighbouring affluent areas.

A programme of work to help improve the area is underway with Place partners having come together over the last few years to build trust and relationships with each other and the public.

Read more

The roll out of the NHS Health Check in deprived communities in Erewash has been presented on a national best practice webinar for the NHS Confederation, alongside NHS England Director Dr Bola Olowabi.

The team, from Erewash Primary Care Network, took preventative health checks into workplaces, including a mental health self-help group, a local community breakfast club, and the builder’s merchant Travis Perkins.

They found that in some places, 70 per cent of people needed a follow-up with their GP for issues such as high blood pressure, hypertension and high cholesterol, and the team was able to refer individuals directly to an appointment.

Professor Bola Owolabi, Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England, said: “The NHS Health Check project in Erewash is an exemplar which demonstrates clearly how working in underserved communities to prevent ill-health and tackle inequalities, using the Core20PLUS5 framework, can help achieve exceptional quality healthcare for patients through equitable access, excellent experience and optimal outcomes.”  

Read more

The partnership responsible for helping children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Derbyshire has published its Priority Impact Plan, following a government notice to improve.

It follows a report from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission last year.

The plan sets out key areas for impact and improvement including:

•  to improve communication with children and their families, schools, health and with other professionals across the partnership and relevant agencies
•  to develop a robust strategic needs assessment to understand SEND children’s needs across Derbyshire and to jointly commission the services required
• to ensure there are sufficient special needs schools places for children with SEND
• to build on ongoing work to improve how quickly Education Health and Care Plans are drafted and delivered

Read more

Do you talk to patients, service users, and their families as part of your job? Do you want to improve your communication skills and understanding of health inequalities? Try the new Quality Conversations'  online course.

• Identify Barriers: Understand the challenges some people face in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
• Learn About Health Inequities: Recognize that health in Derby and Derbyshire is not always fair.
• Person-Centred Care: Learn the importance of and how to provide care that focuses on individual needs.
• Effective Communication: Develop skills to discuss what matters most to the people you serve.

The modules are accessible anytime, anywhere. All you need is a phone, tablet, laptop, or computer with an internet connection.

Start learning today with Quality Conversations and make a difference in your community.

Read the blog by Derby and Derbyshire Chief Medical Officer Chris Weiner and sign up for the e-learning, by using the link on the Quality Conversations training page

Pharmacy First – the service that offers treatment for seven common conditions – has been used by tens of thousands of people in Derbyshire since it was launched a year ago.

New data shows that more than 37,000 consultations under the Pharmacy First scheme took place across Derby and Derbyshire over the six months from April to September. Full year data is not yet available.

The six months of activity carried by pharmacists in Derbyshire is estimated to have saved more than 6,000 hours of time for GPs and other healthcare professionals, over the six months.

This time saved is the equivalent of six full-time clinicians, employed for six months (assuming a 10 minute appointment per consultation was prevented).

Launched on 31 January 2024, Pharmacy First means local community pharmacists are the first place for people to turn for:

• earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
• impetigo (aged 1 year and over)
• infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
• shingles (aged 18 years and over)
• sinusitis (aged 12 years and over)
• sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
• urinary tract infections or UTIs (women aged 16 to 64 years)

People can get treatment from a pharmacist under Pharmacy First simply by visiting their local community pharmacy, without a GP appointment.

Read more

Could you change a child’s life? Our local authority partners in the Foster for East Midlands partnership are urgently appealing for foster carers.

There are more than 3,300 children in care across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire but only enough carers to provide foster family homes for half of them.

Anyone can foster and Foster for East Midlands particularly welcomes professionals from the NHS, social care, police and armed forces to bring their skills and experience to this vital role.

Whether you’re single, in a couple, have children or not, rent or own your home, working or not and if you have a disability, as long as you’re aged 21 or over you can be considered to foster.

Foster for East Midlands - made up of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County and Derby and Nottingham City Councils - gives carers full training, support and allowances.

For more information or to arrange a chat with the friendly team visit the foster for East Midlands website.

• Blog: Why personalising conversations with colleagues and patients matters
• Derbyshire Times column: Let's talk about supporting the mental health of children and young people

If you have any feedback, or questions, please email us at: ddicb.communications@nhs.net.

Disclaimer:
While every effort has been made to ensure the contents of this bulletin are accurate and up-to-date NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board do not accept any responsibility of any omission or inaccuracy as it is not deliberate. Nevertheless, we will appreciate provision of accurate information to improve our work. Where links are provided to external content, NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board holds no responsibility for such content or accuracy.