St Helens Cares

Is a local, integrated care system (sometimes called “accountable care” ) where partner organisations join up services to manage demand, reduce costs and improve people’s outcomes

What is St Helens Cares?

  • A local, integrated care system (sometimes called “accountable care” ) where partner organisations join up services to manage demand, reduce costs and improve people’s outcomes
  • There is no single model for such a system and so local context is important for shaping the approach taken in different areas
  • In St Helens, we are taking a unique and transformational approach, with the development of St Helens Cares
  • Why is it unique?
  • Other models focus purely on health and social care
  • St Helens Cares includes a wide range of partners
  • Focus on locality based working

Who's Involved? 

St Helens Cares brings together a wide range of Statutory organisations working together to improve the lives of the people of St Helens. Organisations include:

Our vision

“Improving people’s lives in St Helens, together, by tackling the challenge of cost and demand”

What does this mean for the people of St Helens?

Our local community will:

  • Benefit from a transformed, integrated care system, in which they receive care and support that is joined up, of high quality, and affordable
  • Be supported and encouraged to do what they can to remain healthy, well and resilient
  • Live in a borough which encourages raising ambition, achieving aspirations, connectedness and supports people to make the right choices

Developments to date

St Helens Shared Care Record

What is the St Helens Shared Care Record?

  • The St Helens Shared Care Record is the creation of a shared record within the care community
  • It is a collaboration of information from local GPs, hospitals, community, mental health and social care services
  • It makes it possible for health and social care professionals to look at relevant information about you to make the best clinical decisions

How will the  St Helens Shared Care Record Help?

All these records will now flow into one shared record system. This means that:

  • The health and social care professionals a patient sees will have the most up to date and accurate information about all of their health, medications and treatment
  • They get the right treatment and care
  • We can reduce duplicate appointments and tests
  • Patients won’t have to keep repeating their medical or social care history

Why do we need a Shared Care Record?

At the moment, each professional you see keeps a separate record. This can mean some important information is not communicated between health and social care services as well as it should.

What does having a shared record mean to me?

  • The health and social care professionals you see have the most up to date and accurate information about all your health, medications and treatment
  • You get the right treatment and care
  • We can reduce duplicate appointments and tests
  • You don’t have to keep repeating your medical or social care history

Who will see my record?

Only health and social care professionals directly involved in your care and treatment will be able to view the Shared Care Record

This may include staff from:

  • The A&E department at Whiston Hospital and Urgent Treatment Centre
  • GPs including out of hours GPs
  • Community and district nurses
  • Physiotherapists and occupational therapists
  • Mental health teams
  • Adult and children’s social care

Saying no to the Shared Care Record

You can choose not to share any information with anybody outside your GP surgery. If you choose not to have a Shared Care Record, you can contact your GP surgery and ask to opt out

Contact Cares

To bring together a wide range of public service organisations united by one goal to improve people’s lives in St Helens and improve the place as a whole

Joint responsibility for the quality of care and management of funding to provide services

The aim of contact Cares

Together we will deliver:

The Right Care, In the Right Place, At the Right Time, Every Time

Contact Cares - Front Door

  • Contact Cares is the single point of access for all social care and adult health referrals, and the first point of contact for children’s referrals
  • Operates 7 days a week 8am – 10pm. Telephone number 01744 676767
  • It is a multidisciplinary team consisting of both qualified and unqualified social care staff, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and general nursing
  • Responsive assessments are completed by the above teams where identified there is a high acuity need
  • Where an assessment is not required, Contact Cares Advisors will signpost onto other services and offer advice and guidance

St Helens Cares Stakeholder Forum

The Stakeholder Reference Forum (SRF) is established to build and sustain meaningful engagement with people across all communities within St Helens, enabling them to have a voice in improving their health and in shaping services as part of St Helens Cares. As such, the SRF will play a key role in providing feedback to the St Helens Cares Provider Board and the St Helens Cares Executive Board, as well as other governance groups within St Helens Cares, on proposals for service change.

This Forum will be made up of patients, service users and carers, and representatives from groups and organisations that represent them or that have an interest in this area. They will offer their perspectives on how St Helens Cares can inform and engage with people on its programmes of work.

Find out more about this group and to view the terms of reference.

More information

If you would like more information please contact us on 01744 627596 or email engagement@sthelensccg.nhs.uk