A new organisation has been launched which aims to transform health and care services for people in the borough.

The Bury Local Care Organisation (Bury LCO) was launched on 1 April, 2019 and has the aim of supporting improvements in population health and wellbeing, providing improved health and care to the people of Bury.

The formal alliance of organisations includes Bury Council, Bury GP Federation, BARDOC, Bury Voluntary, Community and Faith Alliance, Northern Care Alliance NHS Group (Salford Royal and Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trusts), Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and Persona Care and Support Ltd.

These organisations have made a commitment to work together as a single, innovative new body within the public sector, responsible for the transformation and delivery of a group of services. They will work as one joined-up team rather than separate organisations, leading to more coordinated help and support, getting the best value for public money.

The Bury LCO will be responsible for the majority of health and care services provided outside hospital, with a team of approximately 600 staff, with an operating budget of £27m, working across the borough, including district nurses, social workers, health workers and therapists.

A key aim of the group is to focus health and care services in the home and the community, with hospital or care homes only being used for those whose needs cannot be met elsewhere.

There is also a big focus on tailoring services for different areas of Bury which have different levels and types of demands, as well as encouraging people to have healthy lifestyles. For example, Prestwich has a high proportion of older people and so we will be carrying out more strength and balance training here to help reduce the number of injuries caused by falls.

The borough has been divided into five areas to help bring services closer to communities and will be carried out by ‘integrated neighbourhood teams’, which are teams of health, social care and Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector (VCFS) professionals, who will work closely together to deliver more joined-up care support.

Kath Wynne-Jones, chief officer of Bury LCO, said: “The launch of Bury LCO marks the start of a new era for health and care services in the borough. We want to enable our workforce and our population to be the best they can be. We want to remove barriers for staff that cause duplication, stress and uncoordinated care.

“This is a completely new way of delivering help and support for our people and each partner organisation is determined to make a difference and improve services.”

Greater Manchester is leading the way nationally with this new health and care partnership approach, which follows the historic devolution deal between the city region and central government, and allows the area to take charge of its £6 billion health and social care budget, tailoring services for the people they serve.

Each borough has produced a plan on how to do this – called a Locality Plan – and Bury LCO will contribute to implementing Bury’s plan. Bury is investing £19.2 million from devolution’s Greater Manchester Transformation Fund in order to create services fit for the 21^st century.

Geoff Little, Chief Executive of Bury Council and Accountable Officer for Bury One Commissioning Organisation, said: “Bury LCO has a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives.

“We now have all the professionals we need to deliver health and care services working together in one organisation, following one over-arching vision and plan.”