Director General of Adult Social Care visits Cheshire and Merseyside

The national Director General for Adult Social Care paid a visit to Cheshire and Merseyside on Wednesday, December 6th.

Michelle Dyson was in St Helens to learn more about how local health and care integration is supporting residents to experience better care and better outcomes.

She first visited a supported employment scheme which helps people with learning disabilities to secure paid employment before meeting the team at Contact Cares – an award-winning service which acts as the first point of contact for help and advice on health and social care needs.

Michelle then visited Whiston Hospital to tour the A&E department and frailty wards, while learning more about the impact of innovations such as virtual wards. There, she was greeted by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Chief Executive Graham Urwin, St Helens Place Director Mark Palethorpe, Cabinet Member Cllr Marlene Quinn and Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Managing Director Rob Cooper.

Michelle was particularly interested in the differing discharge processes in place across the local authorities which Whiston Hospital serves and, as a result, the differing patient experiences.

She said: "I found this a fantastic visit and saw so much in a short space of time. I was very impressed with the join-up between Whiston Hospital and the St Helens local authority – I found it difficult to work out who belonged to which organisation. An interesting and innovative model of integration."

Mark Palethorpe, also St Helens Council’s Executive Director of People, said: "We are really proud of the work in St Helens to truly integrate health and care services to ensure the best possible experience for our residents. We thank Michelle for her visit and the opportunity to update her both on our successes and our ongoing challenges. We will now share the key learning from Michelle’s visit more widely across Cheshire and Merseyside."