Blog

The Leeds Health and Social Care Hub provides a new way of collaborative working between national government and local NHS organisations and partners, including local government, social care, voluntary organisations, education and industry.

The ‘Partner Perspective’ feature series focus on the Hub partners to find out more about their organisation and why they’re part of the Leeds Health and Social Care Hub. This month we’re talking to Thea Stein, Chief Executive of Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

What does your organisation do?

We provide community healthcare services across Leeds and some specialist services to police custody suites across Yorkshire and the Humber. We deliver services in or close to people’s homes and work with the whole family, from prenatal visits by our 0-19 public health service, to palliative care.

We work in partnership with the NHS, social care, the criminal justice system and the third sector. We aim to create joined up services which give people the care and support they need. We employ about 3,000 staff, the majority of whom are registered practitioners.

What is it that makes Leeds and the surrounding region a good place for this sort of partnership?

Leeds is a vibrant city with outstanding primary care and third sector partners, who are well supported by Leeds City Council. There are multiple NHS providers, universities and private sector organisations making it a brilliant place to work as a community healthcare provider.

Our NHS partners are:

• Leeds GP Confederation
• Leeds Health and Care Partnership
• Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 
• Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

We’re part of the West Yorkshire Health Care Partnership and are working at this larger scale to design and deliver region-wide services such as cancer care.

We are proud of the partnerships we already have with third sector organisations, we work together to develop pathways, services and on shared agendas. Read about our first Third Sector Strategy.

Our highlights

We provide the Leeds Long COVID Community Rehabilitation Service for adults. The service has won prestigious awards including the 2021 BMJ Clinical Leadership Team award. It’s at the forefront of Long COVID research and a team member is the World Health Organisation (WHO) advisor for the Long COVID rehabilitation policy for Europe. The team wrote the WHO self-management guidance booklet for the condition (now translated into more than 20 international languages) and has published more than 30 scientific articles on the topic. Their work has put us on the international map for leading clinical and academic work in this novel condition, which affects millions worldwide.

During COVID, the number of people dying at home increased by 40% and it continues at this level. The complexity of patients’ needs at end of life has also increased, as more people choose to be cared for at home, rather than in other care settings. Our services support people over 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to be in the place of their choice and to have a good death at home.

We work with partners such as hospice community teams to support patients with more complex needs to prevent unnecessary hospital admission at end of life. Our approach includes patients and their carers – we provide personalised care to plan ahead so we are aware of patients’ care preferences.

Why is being a Hub partner important?

It’s a great opportunity to change how we work at a local level and really test the policy in practice.

What one word would you use to describe the Leeds Health and Social Care Hub?

Potential.