CQC - Care Quality Commission

CQC are the independent regulator of health and social care in England. They make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and they encourage care services to improve.

Their role is to:

• Register care providers
• Monitor, inspect and rate services
• Take action to protect people who use services
• Speak with their independent voice, publishing their views on major quality issues in health and social care

Throughout their work they:

• Protect the rights of vulnerable people, including those restricted under the Mental Health Act
• Listen to and act on your experiences
• Involve the public and people who receive care
• Work with other organisations and public groups

PHE - Public Health England

PHE are an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and a distinct organisation with operational autonomy. They provide government, local government, the NHS, Parliament, industry and the public with evidence-based professional, scientific expertise and support. They exist to protect and improve the nation's health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities.

They employ 5,500 staff (full-time equivalent), mostly scientists, researchers and public health professionals. They have 8 local centres, plus an integrated region and centre for London, and 4 regions (north of England, south of England, Midlands and east of England, and London). PHE work closely with public health professionals in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and internationally.

Public Health England was established on 1 April 2013 to bring together public health specialists from more than 70 organisations into a single public health service.

They are responsible for:

• Making the public healthier and reducing differences between the health of different groups by promoting healthier lifestyles, advising government and supporting action by local government, the NHS and the public
• Protecting the nation from public health hazards
• Preparing for and responding to public health emergencies
• Improving the health of the whole population by sharing our information and expertise, and identifying and preparing for future public health challenges
• Supporting local authorities and the NHS to plan and provide health and social care services such as immunisation and screening programmes, and to develop the public health system and its specialist workforce
• Researching, collecting and analysing data to improve our understanding of public health challenges, and come up with answers to public health problems

HSE - Health and Safety Executive

The HSE believe everyone has the right to come home safe and well from their job. That’s why their mission is to prevent work-related death, injury and ill health.

They provide support through free guidance and advice. By giving employers the confidence to manage risks correctly, they boost productivity, support the economy and contribute to a fairer society.

HSE helps workers understand how they can stay safe and well.

With roots stretching back to 1833 the modern HSE is an independent regulator with over forty years’ experience helping Great Britain work well. Using world leading science HSE have helped protect millions of people from devastating injury and suffering.

HSE leads the way, but doesn’t act alone. Everyone has a part to play - employers, unions, trade associations, professional bodies, academics and others.

Working in partnership is one of their strengths. It’s at the heart of how they protect workers and the public.         

They concentrate on the most serious risks, target industries with the greatest hazards, and sectors with the worst risk management record.

They are firm and fair when using our legal powers. Inspection helps them check that serious risks are managed sensibly. When things go wrong, investigation helps them get to the truth and learn lessons.

They hold employers to account for their failures and get answers for victims and make workplaces safer.             

The world of work is always changing. They use science to understand these changes. And that understanding helps them all prepare for the workplaces of tomorrow...so Great Britain continues to be one of the safest and best places to work and do business.

SWAST - South Western Ambulance Service Trust

SWAST’s mission statement is to respond quickly and safely to patients’ emergency and urgent care needs, at every stage of life, to reduce anxiety, pain and suffering, with exceptional patient care delivered by exceptional people.

They have a responsibility for the provision of ambulance services across an area of 10,000 square miles which is 20% of mainland England. The Trust covers the counties of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and the former Avon area (Bristol, Bath, North and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire).

The Trust serves a total population of over 5.5 million and is estimated to receive an influx of over 23 million visitors each year. The operational area is predominantly rural but also includes large urban centres including Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter, Bath, Swindon, Gloucester, Bournemouth and Poole.

Core operations include the following service lines:

• Emergency ambulance 999 services (A&E)
• NHS 111 call-handling for Dorset.

They have 94 ambulance stations, three clinical control rooms, six air ambulance bases and two Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART).

The Trust provides the clinical teams for six air ambulances (two in Devon, one in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, one shared across Dorset and Somerset, one in Wiltshire and one based near Bristol).

They employ over 4,000 mainly clinical and operational staff (including Paramedics, Emergency Care Practitioners, Advanced Technicians, Ambulance Care Assistants and Nurse Practitioners) plus GPs and around 2,785 volunteers (including community first responders, BASICS doctors, fire co-responders and volunteer PTS drivers).

DCC - Devon County Council

Devon County Council's responsibilities include schools, social care for the elderly and vulnerable, road maintenance, libraries, and trading standards. Devon County Council appoints eleven members to the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority. The Office for National Statistics estimated that the mid-2014 population of the non-metropolitan area of Devon was 765,302, which is the largest in the South West England region.

The county council's area is also administered by eight smaller authorities that have their own district, borough or city councils:

• Exeter – City council
• East Devon – District council
• Mid Devon – District council
• North Devon – District council
• Torridge – District council
• West Devon – Borough council
• South Hams – District council
• Teignbridge – District council

 The responsibilities of these councils include local planning, council housing, refuse collection, sports and leisure facilities, and street cleaning. The district areas are further divided into civil parishes, which have "parish councils" or "town councils"; the latter of which often use a town hall. Typical activities undertaken by a parish council include maintaining allotments, footpaths, playing fields and the local community or village hall. On some matters, the county council share responsibilities with the district and parish councils. These include economic development and regeneration, emergency planning, tourism promotion and coastal protection.

Devon CCG - Devon Clinical Commissioning Group

NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is the local headquarters for the NHS in Devon.

They are the organisation responsible for planning, commissioning (or buying) and developing healthcare services for the 1.2 million people who live in Devon.

The CCG is a membership body, made up of all the GP practices in Devon. They are led by a governing body of healthcare professionals – including local GPs, nurses, consultants and lay members – who ensure that they commission safe and effective healthcare services, within their budget.

NHS Devon CCG – the fifth largest in England – formed on 1 April 2019, following the merger of the two previous CCGs in Devon: NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG and NHS South Devon and Torbay CCG.

Devon is the fourth largest county in England with a diverse and growing population. It includes the cities of Plymouth and Exeter, more than 45 towns – both rural and urban – and several hundred parishes.

Their aim is to improve people’s lives in Devon – wherever they live – to reduce health inequalities and make sure we can deliver these services for the long term.

Within their budget of £1.8 billion, they plan and buy the majority (two-thirds) of the hospital and community NHS services for the county, including:

• most planned hospital care
• rehabilitative care
• urgent and emergency care (including out-of-hours)
• most community health services, such as community nursing and physiotherapy
• maternity and new-born services (excluding neonatal intensive care)
• infertility services
• children and young people’s health services
• mental health and learning disability services
• continuing healthcare for people with ongoing health needs, such as nursing care

From 1 April 2019, the CCG took on responsibility for commissioning general practice (previously commissioned by NHS England). This enables the CCG to deliver better, more joined-up care for patients, closer to home.

As a key partner in the Devon Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, they work closely with local hospital trusts, mental health trusts, councils and others to help achieve the best possible outcomes for local people.

They involve local patients, carers and the public, and organisations such as the Healthwatches in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, to help them better understand local need and commission high-quality care that is safe, effective and focused on the patient experience – as set out in the CCG’s constitution and the NHS Constitution.

CCGs are accountable to the Secretary of State for Health, through NHS England, which has responsibility for the other third of the NHS healthcare spend (for example, dental services and some specialised hospital services). 

DPT - Devon Partnership Trust

Devon Partnership NHS Trust provides mental health services to around 890,000 people living in Devon (excluding Plymouth). They provide services for adults, older people, people with alcohol and substance misuse issues (Torbay only), people with a learning disability and people who need forensic or secure mental health services. Their services focus on personal recovery, wellbeing and independence.

Devon STP - Sustainability and Transformation Partnership

Together for Devon is a partnership of health and social care organisations working together with local communities across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay to improve people’s health, wellbeing and care. This is part of a new arrangement – called an Integrated Care System.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out how health and social care partners need to work together to plan services for the next five to ten years. Together for Devon reflects the commitments made in the NHS Long Term Plan and forms the foundation stone of the service and system change in the future.

Their vision is simple: equal chances for everyone in Devon to lead long, happy and healthy lives.

To deliver this vision, they have set out six ambitions for the next five years that will help them transform services and redesign the way they provide care. Everything they do aims to realise these 6 ambitions:

• Ambition 1: Effective and efficient care
  Collaborate across the system to address quality (safety, effectiveness, experience) and productivity.
• Ambition 2: Integrated Care Model
  Systematic delivery of the integrated – or joined up – care across Devon.
• Ambition 3: The Devon deal
  A citizens-led approach to health and care. They will adopt a new approach to reduce differences in care across the county and will work with communities to identify priorities and tackle the root causes of problems.
• Ambition 4: Children and young people
  Working together with children, young people and their families. They want all children and young people in Devon to have the best start in life, grow up in loving and supportive families, and be happy, healthy and safe.
• Ambition 5: Digital Devon
  Invest in a digital Devon: people will only tell their story once, first contact will be digital and more advice and help will be available online. They want to make the most of advances in digital technology to help people stay well, prevent ill-health, and provide care.
• Ambition 6: Equally well in Devon
  Work together to tackle the physical health inequalities for people with mental illness, learning disabilities and/or autism.

The following organisations are part of Devon STP.

• Devon County Council
• Devon CCG
• Devon Partnership NHS Trust
• Livewell Southwest CIC
• Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
• Plymouth City Council
• Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
• Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
• South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
• Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
• Torbay Council
  
  

SW AHSN - South West Academic Health Science Networks

The South West Academic Health Science Network (SW AHSN) is one of 15 AHSNs set up by NHS England across the country in 2013, to spread innovation at pace and scale – improving health and generating economic growth.

Each AHSN works within its own area to develop projects, programmes and initiatives that reflect the diversity of our local populations and healthcare challenges. However, they all share the following priorities:

• Promoting economic growth – fostering opportunities for industry to work effectively with the NHS.
• Diffusing innovation – creating the right environment and supporting collaboration across boundaries in order to adopt and spread innovation at pace and scale.
• Improving patient safety – using our knowledge, expertise and networks to bring together patients, health and care staff and partners to determine priorities and develop and implement solutions.
• Improving quality and reducing variation – by spreading best practice we increase productivity and reduce variation, thereby improving patient outcomes.
• Putting research into practice – our strong links with academia mean we are uniquely placed to support the translation of research into clinical practice.
• Collaborating on national programmes – including our unified programmes focused on spreading proven innovations, our Patient Safety Collaboratives and the NHS Innovation Accelerator.

Their purpose is to spread innovative practice across the health and care system to improve population health and generate economic growth.

They help build capability vital to the adoption and spread of innovation. They support partners to evaluate impact and apply learning, and they share knowledge across the health and care, industry, academic and voluntary sectors networks and collaborations.

Their role is as a neutral broker, convening networks to meet a shared aim of better health and care for all.