The Accelerated Cluster Development Programme is the Primary Care component of Place Based Care, delivered through Professional Collaboratives and Clusters.
Professional Collaboratives are the mechanisms by which, GMS practices, Dental practices, Community Pharmacies, Optometry practices, Community Nurses, Allied Health Professions, Social Services and others come together within their profession specific groups across a cluster footprint to consider how they respond to Regional Population Needs Assessments [RPNAs], consider the quality of their service offer and look at how they respond to national strategy for their respective profession, designing local solutions based upon their detailed knowledge and expertise.
“Working as a cluster ensures care is better co-ordinated to promote the wellbeing of individuals and communities.”
The definition that is now used for a Cluster is as follows:
“A cluster brings together all local services involved in health and care across a geographical area, typically serving a population between 25,000 and 100,000”.
Successful Cluster working enables health and care professionals to work across service boundaries and to influence the development of services for their patients. Cluster arrangements form the local footprint for the strategic aims of Regional Partnership Boards.
Background
The Primary Care Model for Wales (PCMW) infographic which supports the vision in A Healthier Wales , contains 13 key components required for transforming services. These include effective collaboration at community level to assess population need to both plan and deliver seamless care and support to meet that assessed need.
The Primary Care Model for Wales emerged from learning from the suite of 24 Pacesetter projects that commenced in 2015 and ran through to 2018. Pacesetter funding was allocated to health boards to provide a systematic approach to test and evaluate new and innovative ways of working to achieve the aims of the 2015 Primary Care Fund namely achieving sustainability, improving access, and delivering more care in the community. Learning from the Pacesetter programme and the subsequent Critical Appraisal of the programme provided the foundations for the emerging model of Primary Care that, following wide stakeholder engagement, evolved into the agreed Primary Care Model for Wales in 2018. An explainer video was produced in 2018 which outlines the journey taken to develop the Primary Care Model for Wales: An Emerging Model for Primary & Community Care on Vimeo.
The local workforce is best placed to understand the needs and experience of local communities and to inform and influence wider public service plans. Clusters were established in 2010 to gather that intelligence and encourage the testing of new models of care to more effectively meet local needs. Whilst significant progress has been made, there is variation between clusters in relation to the maturity of collaborative working and the impact for patients and communities. Mainstreaming of successful projects and evidence of influence on wider strategic planning has been limited and a step change is now needed to realise the full potential of this approach.
For 2021/3 the Strategic Programme for Primary care has introduced an Accelerated Cluster Development (ACD) Programme to ensure more rapid implementation of the PCMW and to address system barriers.
The Programme includes the introduction of Professional Collaboratives (PCs) and Pan Cluster Planning Groups (PCPGs) to broaden and strengthen clinical engagement and to increase the influence from the community to Regional Partnership Board (Health Board and Local Authority) decisions (RPB). A clearer separation of planning and delivery functions will be developed.
ACD is not about additional bureaucracy, it is about reinforcing and improving a suite of mechanisms and infrastructure that are already, in most cases, in place. It is fundamentally about a clear line of sight from the local front line health and care services through to the RPB in terms of understanding the needs of the local population and being able to translate such knowledge into meaningful strategic priorities at an RPB / County and Cluster level. In return this could translate into investment at a local level to deliver integrated, preventative models of care that support regional strategic priorities. This approach is designed to accelerate the wider implementation of successful projects.
Many examples of innovation have been driven by the response to the pandemic and there will be a need for flexibility through 2022/23 as we continue to respond to COVID 19 and the backlog of care in the system. This will be a Transition Year to update engagement and planning arrangements and to strengthen the existing needs assessments and Integrated Medium-Term Plans.
ACD Background Briefing
ACD Road Map
ACD What does this mean? poster
Future Vision
Coming soon
Who is involved? Where to find out more
The Accelerated Cluster Programme was developed following wide engagement with front line teams working in or seeking to develop engagement with Clusters to serve local communities.
An Expert Group was set up to advice on the deliverability of the products / proposals being generated by the ACD Programme, in effect “critical friends” drawn from across Wales. Products are also shared with Directors of Primary Care, Director of Planning and Directors of Finance to road test their content as well as colleagues in a number of Departments / Divisions in Welsh Government.
The ACD programme is managed within the Strategic Programme for Primary Care and is accountable to the National Primary Care Board and through the Lead NHS Chief Executive to the National NHS Leadership team.
Vice Chairs play an important role within Health Boards with responsibility for primary care services. There are also critical links with Regional Partnership Boards.
Click Here to find out who is involved in ACD
Glossary
ACD Key terms
FAQ
Coming soon