NEW approaches to health and wellbeing could make a massive difference to some Dorset residents next year.

It is expected the changes, through an Integrated Care System which starts next year, will see a new focus on areas and communities where health outcomes are poorer.

The county’s director of public health, Sam Crowe, said he hoped it would be about equity rather than what some might see as a fair distribution of health resources.

Patricia Miller, the chief executive of the new Dorset Integrated Care Board, told a Dorset Council health and wellbeing committee that changes to ways of working “can make a positive, significant difference to our community’s way of life,” but said that the new way of working would have to clearly focus on inequalities and “how we use our finance flexibly, both from health and local government, to get the best use of the Dorset pound.”

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She said the new ways of working needed to be outcome-based, not driven by process, with organisations working better together to help the county's 800,000 residents.

“Going forward we have a fantastic opportunity to build a much stronger partnership that will be the foundation of the delivery of this new strategy, provided we can all share a single purpose and are clear about what each other’s roles are in delivery,” she said.

Mr Crowe said he believed much of the focus should be on the variation in the causes of ill-health throughout Dorset and re-focusing resources in those areas.

He told the committee meeting that there was still a lot of work and agreements to be reached as the integrated care partnership strategy developed, with another major meeting planned for the end of July.

By December the strategy should be in place with the integrated care board then responsible for the delivery of a five year plan to deliver the strategy.

Other partners outside the NHS, including Dorset Council and the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, will also need their own plans to work alongside the integrated care strategy.

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Dr Forbes Watson, from the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, said that this could include areas which often lead to poor physical and mental health such as a lack of good housing.

Mr Crowe said he hoped the emerging strategy would result in current systems being rebuilt to put in more support for children and families at an early stage, although those working on the project were still awaiting further Government guidance, expected to be delivered in the coming weeks.

The Dorset ICS, known as ‘Our Dorset’ is a partnership of the two unitary councils, NHS services and the community and voluntary sector, working together to address local health, wellbeing, quality and financial challenges across the county. Its vision is that everyone will start, live and age well and die with dignity, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are.