Black Country Provider Collaborative update

August 12, 2024

Dear colleagues,

You will be aware from previous briefings and bulletins that we have been working closely as part of the Black Country Provider Collaborative (BCPC) to look at how we make our services more resilient and sustainable, reduce variation and inequality to health outcomes and ensure that specialisation and consolidation occur where this will provide better outcomes and value.

Over the last two years working as a collaborative, our Trusts have collectively driven progress by reducing variation, standardizing care, and exploring resource efficiency. Our clinical networks are already showing promise, working toward improved consistency of care, access to services and – crucially – patient outcomes.

As we move forward with our collaborative journey, BCPC is now looking at ways to develop more collaborative and innovative corporate services. The aim is to ensure our corporate services support patient care and offer colleagues a great place to work so you choose to stay with us for the long term, while also removing any unnecessary duplication, ensure strong resilience and improvements across our services.

Our corporate services leaders and staff side partners will be attending a workshop in the near future to start thinking together about the opportunities this presents and how we best progress this important work. We have also invited colleagues from BC ICB and Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to join us as associates partners in this process.

A key part of this is considering how we best involve and engage our colleagues to draw on the rich skills and expertise we are fortunate to have across our system.

We will keep you up to date as this engagement continues.

More information about our Provider Collaborative, which is a partnership of all of our trusts, is here: https://blackcountryprovidercollaborative.nhs.uk/

If you have a question or comment, please email blackcountry.pc@nhs.net