NHS Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group

What are Local Community Networks?

An LCN is best described as a network of health, council, voluntary sector leaders, working with local communities to create a shared ambition and more integrated approach to organising and improving the health and wellbeing of their whole local population.

Who is involved?

Each local community network brings together local health, care, council, voluntary services and communities to focus on the needs, priorities and assets of the people that live in that network.

Multi-disciplinary teams bring together primary, community and social care staff to work as one team with patients and carers to provide holistic care and support.

Integrating the Proactive Care and Community Nursing Teams with Primary Care in each LCN is the first step and this is underway, and will be followed by community Mental Health and Social Care team members. Specialists, such as in Elderly Care, will also be part of the MDT.

As these teams mature and develop, they will work with other agencies such as the council, voluntary sector, specialist care and mental health and build these relationships as they learn more and the model of care develops.

Understanding and connecting social and local community resources within LCNs is a key part of this work, alongside the development of strong relationships and local networks and new models of leadership of place.

Although they are at different stages, all eight Local Community Networks are underway.

• Staff engagement events have been held, partnership boards have been formed and meetings held.
• Priority areas have been identified and some projects have started.
• Each LCN has identified the ageing population as their first priority.

A larger, readable version of the above map is available.

Each LCN has been involving their various patient representative groups, aligned to GP practices’ PPGs and some have begun to develop roles for patient representatives within their LCNs.

Further work is needed to shape this to ensure consistency and support for those LCNs with less developed PPGs; planning is underway to scope what is needed and how this is best delivered. 

We recognise that effective patient and public engagement will be needed to reach a wide range of audiences.

LCNs will be best achieved and more credible by using patients and the public to help bridge communication and encourage involvement.

For example, Coastal West Sussex Mind has 500 service users it regularly engages with and schools, where they are involved, have numerous young people and parents.

Example: Regis

Integrated approach to older people and improving prevention in care homes

• Work has been done with local care homes going well and education event has been held.
• Help and support for staff is in place with a focus on hospital admissions, using data from the discharge review.
• Two paramedics are part of the MDT with clinical supervision and this is working well.
• There has been a focus on managing UTIs better; falls prevention; catheter care, and managing dressings better.