Local residents have helped to create a new vision for improving health and wellbeing in Powys

More information about the Integrated Model of Care and Wellbeing in Powys is available from www.powyswellbeing.wales  

Powys Teaching Health Board and Powys County Council, on behalf of the Powys Regional Partnership Board, are pleased to share the new ‘Integrated Model of Care and Wellbeing in Powys’. 

The Integrated Model of Care and Wellbeing will transform the way we deliver care and support for everyone in Powys, shifting the focus away from ill health and toward improving wellbeing and better health for future generations to come. 

The new model delivers on our promise and the aspirations of people in Powys that were first described in a Joint Health and Care Strategy, A Healthy Caring Powys. This set out our vision and direction of travel to: 

• promote wellbeing; 

• offer early help and support to people; 

• tackle the big four diseases that limit life (cancer, circulatory diseases, mental health, respiratory diseases); and, 

• provide joined up seamless care and support for our residents. 

People of all ages and professionals in Powys have helped shape the new model through their own views and experiences of: 

• what matters most to them; 

• what keeps people safe and well in their home or in a place work; 

• what works well now in their community or local area; and, 

• what they would like to see improved in the future. 

We will achieve this through early help and support, joined up care closer to home using smart technology, enhanced services in the local community, and integrated health and care through greater collaboration with our partners. 

The valuable insights we heard have demonstrated that that there is a high level of ambition for change, and that no two communities are the same in relation to wellbeing and a sense of belonging. With this in mind, the new model will be flexible in its approach to ensuring people have easier access to services in the right place and at the right time that meets their needs. 

Our aim is to enable people of all ages: 

• to start well, live well and age well; and, 

• to live as independently as possible, in a community of choice. 

We want people to be able to feel that they have a voice in their community, able to make a change, look out for each other, and to create a network of support to improve their own wellbeing, and that of family and friends.  

Supporting our future vision will be the development of a new state of the art Rural Regional Centre and Community Wellbeing Hub for residents across north Powys. The centre will be part of a much wider multi-agency wellbeing campus in Newtown that brings together a range of services from the town on one site. It will connect with our current network of community hospitals in Powys, and with the district general hospitals around our borders, to ensure residents receive the right treatment in the right place at the right time. Central so this is ensuring a more joined up experience for local residents through more integrated pathways of care across mid Wales. 

This new model of care and wellbeing will be piloted in the north of Powys in the first instance, and then across the mid and south of the county as the model evolves. 

The coronavirus pandemic has understandably delayed our plans to launch this new model. But, this has also provided an opportunity to  reassess and reflect are learning from these challenging times. For example, the past year has highlighted the importance of strengthening mental health and wellbeing support in the home, supporting people to access health and care through digital technology, and working together across voluntary, community, health and care services. 

The new model will enable our joint Health and Care Strategy to become a reality, bringing to life our vision of a Healthy Caring Powys. 

We hope that people in Powys will recognise their valuable contribution to this vision of health and wellbeing in Powys, and we look forward to developing this model in an everchanging future Powys. 

More information about the Integrated Model of Care and Wellbeing in Powys is available from www.powyswellbeing.wales