12 January 2017

Health and social care partners have met to review the progress being made to strengthen  the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) for the local population of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

The Sustainability and Transformation Plan aims to describe how the health and social care system can remain fit for the future, help patients to become healthier and respond effectively to the growing demands being placed upon it. The plan is a work-in-progress on which partners to the STP are all continuing to work on together.

Simon Wright, Chair of the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin STP said: “Similar to other STPs across the country, we are working with partners to refresh and build upon our early submission. We have listened to the feedback we have received from our key stakeholders  and will continue to collaborate to deliver transformation that meets the needs of the system as a whole and, most importantly, improves health and social care for our patients.

“From the very beginning we recognised the importance of this being a collaborative programme, focusing on all key aspects of care ranging from helping our communities to stay well for as long as possible, providing more care closer to where people live and ensuring safe high quality care in the acute hospital setting where and when this is needed. This is the biggest transformation plan our area has ever seen and an exciting opportunity for all health and social care partners to work differently and transform the way we deliver care for local people.   

“Over the last month we have continued to work with our partners to improve our plans and we continue with a programme of communication and engagement with our key stakeholders to build understanding and support. Some plans have been the subject of previous public engagement and this will continue and intensify as we they continue to develop them. Over the next few months we will be taking our plans through our partner organisations’ governance processes and will be presenting them to a wide range of stakeholders.

“Our next step is to resubmit our revised STP for approval by the national sponsoring bodies and, subject to sign off, we will move towards implementation. The successful implementation of our plan will rest with our partners including patients, the public, commissioners and providers of services and with our constituent neighbourhoods. This approach recognises the principles of partnership and engagement that has been central to our STP from inception.”