Our Partners

Devon County Council's responsibilities include schools, social care for the elderly and vulnerable, road maintenance, libraries, and trading standards.

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.

Adult Social Care in Devon County Council

Devon County Council appoints a Head of Adult Social Care Operations and Health and then there are Assistant Directors for each locality, as well as a Principal Adult Social Worker, Principal Adult Occupational Therapist and Assistant Director of Disability Services. The individuals currently in those roles can be found here.

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.

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).

Primary Care Networks (PCN's)

To meet the diverse needs of the population today, GP practices are working together with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas in groups of practices known as primary care networks (PCNs).

PCNs build on existing primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care for people close to home. Clinicians describe this as a change from reactively providing appointments to proactively caring for the people and communities they serve. They are small enough to provide the personal care valued by both people and GPs, but large enough to have impact and economies of scale through better collaboration between GP practices and others in the local health and social care system.

PCNs are led by clinical directors who may be a GP, general practice nurse, clinical pharmacist or other clinical profession working in general practice.

A list of all the PCN's in Devon and their Lead Clinical Director can be found here.

Community Service Managers (CSMs)

A community service manager will coordinate and supervise social service programs and community organisations. They implement and suggest improvements to social services programs and manage staff who provide those services to the community. Sometimes called social services managers, they work with community members and other organizations constantly to help identify necessary community programs and services. A list of CSMs and other key roles can be found here (up to date as of Jan 2020).

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.

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

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 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. 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).

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.

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

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.

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.