What are Place Partnerships?

Our four Places - Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield - make up the region of South Yorkshire.

Partners in each place are working together as Place Partnerships to improve health and care for local residents. These partnerships are the foundation of Place development with relationships in each continuing to evolve and work taking place to deliver ambitious joint strategic plans for the health and care needs of their local population. 

Each Place has a Local Plan. It sets out how partners will work together to help everyone in their locality. The principle aim is to help people in each of our Places to get the best start in life and to be healthier.

For these Place Partnerships, living healthier lives means reducing unnecessary harm from smoking or alcohol consumption, helping people with obesity to lose weight and providing accessible community services – such as supporting people with their mental health by reducing loneliness and to become more active.

Each Plan has been developed by both experts and citizens that are connected to the local area; local doctors, hospital chief executives, clinical commissioners, council officers and patient and voluntary sector groups.

The partnerships bring together the different ideas and initiatives that have been developed with local communities and local people already, as well as providing opportunities for people to give their views and to get involved in shaping their future services.

By focusing attention on local communities and the services, care and wellbeing needed by the people who live in them, we can support everyone to be healthier. We want to make the most of the skills of local people, communities and organisations to support people to lead healthier lives and care for themselves and each other.

Place partnerships have implemented a range of joint working arrangements and mechanisms to drive forward joint working with local authorities and providers of health care.

Useful links

Shared health and care records have been implemented across most of South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw. This has been done to enable NHS and social care clinicians and professionals to access patient information to provide seamless care. These databases of information are also being used in the ongoing development of population health management tools for PCNs.

Joint strategies with local authorities in place, based on life course e.g. Living Well. Delivery in some Places is supported and facilitated through shared commissioning posts in areas such as children’s services, mental health and learning disability.

Development of strategic partnership work on the wider determinants of health; housing, employment, education, homelessness, transport and population health initiatives that incorporate lifestyle change – which are aligned to Primary Care Networks (PCNs).

Provider alliances and provision ICPs have developed approaches with local providers to align, integrate and incentivise care.