Work to integrate health and care services across West, North and East Cumbria has been rated as ‘advanced’ by NHS England.

The first ‘rating’ of Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) has seen the West, North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership considered to be one of the best in England.

It follows the award earlier this week of more than £65 million worth of capital investment. The funding has been made available for cancer care, the redevelopment of West Cumberland Hospital and the development of Integrated Care Communities (ICCs). This means north Cumbria will receive more than a quarter of the money announced for England this week.

Stephen Eames, the STP lead for West, North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership, said: “I am very pleased that the first assessment of our partnership working has found us to be ‘advanced’. This means NHS England can see we are working together well, weare making progress and most importantly we have a plan for making the improvements which will support a better experience for our patients and for our staff.

“It comes on top of the announcement this week which saw us getting an enormous amount of investment. More than £65 million to develop our health services is incredibly good news for our community. The impact of it cannot be overstated – this is fantastic news.”

The STP progress assessment has classed each STPin one of four bandings:

1. outstanding
2. advanced
3. making progress
4. needs most improvement

This is a baseline assessment and will be updated annually.

NHS England says working together collaboratively as a system offers a greater chance of making the improvements the NHS has prioritised – taking the strain off of A&E, making it easier to get a GP appointment and offering improvements to mental health and cancer care.

The headline rating is driven by indicators in three broad areas:

• hospital performance
• patient-focused change
• transformation

It has used existing performance standards, safety indicators, rated improvements in access in key areas, and assessed effective partnership working and improvements in finance.

More information can be found at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/sustainability-and-transformation-partnerships-progress-dashboard-baseline-view/

Notes for editors:

• The West North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership is made up of health and care commissioners and providers. Partners include Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England, NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, North West Ambulance Service, primary care and third sector organisations.

• Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) have been created to encourage health and care organisations to work more closely together to improve outcomes and care for local people, reduce pressures on services andmake best use of our financial resources.

• Cumbria sits across two STP areas – West North and East Cumbria Health and Care Partnership in the north and in the south in Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria.