Taking stock of 2014 and getting set for 2015

Dr Sam Bennett
Sam Bennett, Think Local Act Personal
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It's that time of year when we tend to look back in our quieter moments and reflect. What's gone well and what hasn't? What's stayed the same and what's changed? Have we made the difference we'd hoped? In truth there are precious few quieter moments, but our recent annual conference at least afforded the opportunity to formally take stock of the year. And 2014 has proved rather a big one for TLAP!

Several highlights were:

So lots has happened and much of it has been positive. But we are acutely aware that this is against a backdrop of unprecedented challenges, increasingly tough decisions and anxieties about what the future will hold. So we need to move quickly from looking backwards to looking forwards and preparing to actively shape 2015, rather than simply reacting to the inevitable uncertainty of an election year.

Which brings me to my personal three wishes for health and care in 2015. I've chosen things I think TLAP can influence rather than addressing these to the politicians. But my wishes come with a large caveat which is that a new funding settlement needs to match the ambitions of everyone in the sector to do better for the people we serve.

1. From talk to action - the Care Act is a pretty remarkable piece of legislation. It is the right Act. But delivering it will take a huge amount of vision and ambition matched by hard graft. My wish is that as we gear up for 2015, there will be as much emphasis on the promotion of individual wellbeing, on building strong and inclusive communities and on the importance of coproduction in implementing the reforms as on the many other changes being introduced. For TLAP's part, we will be shifting the focus of our activity in 2015 towards supporting people to actively engage with the resources we produce.

2. Integrated Personal Commissioning Demonstrator sites will soon be announced and a transformational programme of activity will start. This is immensely exciting, and TLAP will offer the NHS a wealth of learning from which to progress. My wish for IPC is that by this time next year our health and care system will work a whole lot better for people with the most complex needs for whom it doesn't work well at the moment, and that the learning from this will be followed by others.

3. New relationships - My final wish for 2015 is that it provides the opportunity to build on new partnerships within TLAP and beyond to make the best of scarce resources and join up with others to make positive change happen. We were delighted to welcome Public Health England, NHS England, the Office for Disability Issues, the Housing and Support Alliance and many others to the TLAP Partnership in 2014. Plans are in place- from work with PHE to disseminate our framework for community capacity building to a new partnership forged with the Coalition for Collaborative Care who mirror our ambition for personalisation for many millions of people with long term conditions.

You can be assured that as we develop our plans for 2015 and beyond we will stay committed to our original ambitions of delivering on the promise of personalisation and community based support and always doing this in coproduction with people with health and care needs.

Comments

Posted on by Chris Sterry

3 great wishes for 2015 and here's hoping they can be successful.

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