NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB has been working with partners and with communities in some of our electoral wards with the highest levels of socio-economic deprivation and poorer health outcomes. These wards are where there is a higher number than expected of attendances and admissions into the urgent and emergency care department and where there are high levels of deprivation within the community.   

This work has been developed working in each of the four place-based partnerships in Lancashire and South Cumbria. These partnerships include representatives of health, local authority, voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations, independent sector providers and the wider community, and work together to plan and deliver services. They also work together to make sure our services are joined up to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for the population, prevent people from being unwell and reduce health inequalities across our neighbourhoods.  

Priority wards were identified by looking at data and intelligence held by all partners. There are 33 priority wards in Lancashire and South Cumbria and well as a number of exemplar wards where use of urgent and emergency services is lower than would be expected for the level of deprivation. Working with local partners, a listening exercise has been undertaken in the priority wards and some of the exemplar wards to understand what is driving the rates of access to services and to determine what could make a difference and what action could be taken. This work has provided a rich insight into the health and wellbeing of the populations living in these wards and provide helpful understanding of how services are experienced by those using them. Further discussions are now underway to embed the findings of this work into plans for 23/24 and beyond.