Health and care join up to meet pressures on urgent care services this winter

Additional investment has been targeted at a range of services across the region which will support those people most in need of urgent care.

Services have seen the demand increase over the last few weeks in particularly in
hospitals and GP surgeries. Cases of Covid are also rising which is adding to the
demand.

Despite the challenges, frontline health and care staff and organisations across the
region are working together to give patients the best possible care they can. They are
also urging the public to help ensure the NHS can focus on caring for the most poorly
patients.

Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive, NHS South Yorkshire said: “The additional investment
will help reduce the amount of time people have to stay in hospital and make sure they
get home with the right support in place.

“We know that this winter will be challenging. We’re coming out of a busy summer and
we know winter is always busier. We are working together, as partners in health and
care, across South Yorkshire to address the challenges. We know there are people in
our hospitals ready to go home. We are working closely with our local authority partners to use additional investment to boost capacity for social care helping people to go home as soon as they are ready."

“This time last year we were able to fast-track the salary increase for our adult social
care workforce to provide more job security and resilience, but it is a sector which faces
competition in the jobs market."

“We are prioritising a recruitment drive across health and social care ahead of winter.
More funding has gone to care homes and for therapy when people get home. Mental
health support and additional crisis support services have also been bolstered across
the region.

“Our GPs and practice nurses are also working incredibly hard and from this month
additional appointments have been added for evenings and weekends to give people
greater access.”

The public can help too, and we would ask them to think about how they can get the
best out of health and care services. While many patients in hospital are very unwell,
health and care services are urging people to seek other health services if their
condition is not serious or life-threatening.

Gavin Boyle continued: “Sadly we’re still seeing thousands of people a week across our region book a GP or nurse appointment and then not attend. I would urge people to
cancel their appointment if it is no longer wanted. That consultation can then be given to a patient who has an urgent need.”

A new South Yorkshire campaign, Help Us to Help You, has also been launched aimed
at reducing pressures on A&E and GPs which shows people how they can choose the
right health care at the right place.

This includes encouraging people aged 18 to 30 to use the online NHS 111 service
when they are unsure what healthcare support they need. Research has shown that six
out of ten of people surveyed weren’t aware you could check symptoms and get a
telephone call back from a clinician if needed through the online service.

Gavin Boyle added: “We are expecting the next few months to be challenging. All
partners are working together to develop our plans. Our teams are doing an incredible
job and I’d like to thank them and the public for their continued efforts.”

62% of 311 people responding in South Yorkshire said they hadn’t used the NHS
111 online service as they wanted to speak to a call handler.

About NHS South Yorkshire

NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) oversees health and social care for
a population of 1.4m people. Working through our four places, Barnsley, Doncaster,
Rotherham, and Sheffield, we are building on the strengths, capacity and knowledge of
all those directly involved with our local communities to deliver our four key aims
of Improving outcomes in population health and healthcare; Tackling inequalities in
outcomes, experience and access; Enhancing productivity and value for money; and
Helping the NHS support broader social and economic development. 
Our near 1,000 staff are committed to addressing the broader health, public health, and
social care needs of the population across South Yorkshire through our values of One
Team, Empowered and Innovative. We work as a key partner with the Integrated Care
Partnership (ICP) of health and care providers within the South Yorkshire Integrated

Care System (ICS) to collectively deliver health and care services that meet the needs
of the local population. In total there are 186 GP practices in the region, 72,000 health
and social care professionals working across nine NHS trusts and four local authorities,
and a further 6,000 voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE)
organisations. We work alongside all these colleagues through local councils, our
VCSE partners and other partners to address health inequalities and wider
determinants of health in South Yorkshire.