The new approach has been several years in development. It builds on the integrated community care Vanguard pilot programme which ran from 2015 through March 2018. Drawing on learning from the pilot, colleagues have been working together, and with wider partners, to put in place the foundations to support the new joined up approach to service delivery. This has included developing and testing new shared ways of working, putting in place a plan to enable access for colleagues across Alliance partners’ buildings and facilities and improving IT systems to enable information sharing.
Mobilisation for the new service commenced in May 2019 followed by a soft launch on 30 September 2019 – Harrogate and Rural Alliance – briefing document – summer 2019. Over the months ahead colleagues from across the Alliance will continue to refine the approach to joint working with transition to four integrated community health and social care teams in place by 31 March 2019.
Our goal is an agile and responsive service which is continually evolving. We fully intend the Alliance approach to be co-designed and co-produced as it develops – we know we don’t have all the answers and it will be better if we do it together. We will actively work across the partnership and with colleagues, service users and their carers and families, partners in the volunteer and community services sectors, commissioners and policy makers to further develop the services during the 2019/20 transition period and beyond.