CEO's blog: We need health services to connect with each other.

What happens when you have a long-term condition, or a short-term illness, but your treatment and care hit a roadblock, purely because the services you need aren't talking to each other? It's a frustrating and distressing situation for patients, and sadly one that we here from you happens all too often in Milton Keynes. 

Whether it's referrals going missing, or patients going back and forth between their GP and hospital, the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) have this month made a formal commitment, in their Health Services Strategy, to ensure that local services deliver joined up care for residents. They are setting out an expectation that providers like GP practices and hospitals must work differently, and together, to fit around the patient, rather than patients having to 'do the leg work' to get answers about their treatment.  

We're encouraged to see that service transformation through the 'Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Collaborative' is a core priority in the ICB's Health Services Strategy. We know from your feedback that mental health support is not always visible, nor well-connected, to services for people with neurodiversity or learning disabilities. Residents are repeatedly facing barriers such as long waiting times or not fitting certain criteria to qualify for support.

The ICB acknowledges the significant challenges faced by the NHS, and highlights how some of these challenges will become more more extreme across BLMK, given the growth in population - especially in Milton Keynes - and the demographics of the area. It will be a long road and we will be keeping a close eye on whether your experiences reflect these ambitions of more connected services, so please continue to share your feedback through our online Have Your Say form.