Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership

The Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership was established in 2015 as one of the first Sustainability and transformation plans in England as a key part of devolution in the United Kingdom. It was then transformed into an integrated care system. It covers 2.8 million people living in ten boroughs.{{cite news |title=About Devolution |url=https://www.gmhsc.org.uk/about-devolution/ |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership |date=2021}} It is made up of the 37 NHS organisations and councils in the city region.{{cite news |title=Pharmacy playing part in devolved Manchester health and care structure |url=https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/pharmacy-playing-part-in-devolved-manchester-health-and-care-structure |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Pharmaceutical Journal |date=21 December 2017}}

It sprang from the settlement agreed on November 3, 2014, by George Osborne and was the first agreement to give council leaders a say in the health and social care budget, which in Greater Manchester was about £6 billion a year. {{cite news |title=Devolution: One year on from the historic deal |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/devolution-one-year-historic-deal-10380040 |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Manchester Evening News |date=3 November 2015}} It was linked to the establishment of the new, directly elected mayor of Greater Manchester, although the mayor's powers over health and social care are very limited.{{cite news |title=Whitehall devolves power to GMCA as part of 'Northern Powerhouse' scheme |url=https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/whitehall-devolves-power-to-gmca-as-part-of-northern-powerhouse-scheme |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Civil Service World |date=3 November 2014}} The deal doesn’t include the power to raise local taxes to control the size of the budget.

A joint commissioning board was established including Clinical Commissioning Groups, local authorities and NHS England - but not general practitioners.{{cite news |title=GPs not consulted on Manchester health and social care deal, says LMC |url=https://www.gponline.com/gps-not-consulted-manchester-health-social-care-deal-says-lmc/article/1336194 |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=GP Online |date=2 March 2015}} Lord Peter Smith, leader of Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council was the first chair of the board. Social care was identified as a major problem very early on, and there was a target to reduce expenditure by £2 billion over five years. The ambition was to cut spending on hospitals and invest more in early public health, with a significant reallocation of the resources that go into crisis care to preventative care.{{cite news |title=UK prescribes local politicians to cure the NHS |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-prescribes-local-politicians-to-cure-the-nhs/ |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Politico |date=5 October 2016}}

Initiatives included offering pregnant women smokers a £10 voucher for every week they remain smoke-free, with a further £60 if they stay off cigarettes three months after birth.{{cite news |title=Mums offered £300 in shopping vouchers to quit smoking |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-40754831 |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=BBC |date=28 July 2017}} In August 2021 the Partnerships’ Smoke-free Pregnancy programme, set up in 2018, announced that Smoking at the Time of Delivery rates had fallen by around a quarter in four years – down from 12.6% of new mothers in 2017-18 to 9.8% in 2020-21.{{cite web |title=New figures reveal smoking in pregnancy rates at all-time low in Greater Manchester |url=https://healthinnovationmanchester.com/news/new-figures-reveal-smoking-in-pregnancy-rates-at-all-time-low-in-greater-manchester/ |website=Health Innovation Manchester |date=14 July 2021 |access-date=14 September 2021}}

Prof Sir Michael Marmot in a report commissioned by the partnership in 2019 found that the COVID-19 pandemic in England had exposed and amplified health inequalities in Greater Manchester, where the death rate had been 25% higher than the rest of England. He said his recommendations were not just about health care or just about public health. "They're about housing and transport and community development and jobs and schools." - areas where the powers of the partnership were very limited.{{cite news |title=Covid death rate 25% higher in Greater Manchester - report |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57658479 |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=BBC |date=1 July 2021}}

The partnership is closely associated with Health Innovation Manchester.{{cite news |title=US MED-TECH TRADE MISSION TO SHOWCASE GREATER MANCHESTER |url=https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/us-med-tech-trade-mission-to-showcase-greater-manchester |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Insider Media |date=18 September 2017}}

Mark Fisher was appointed chief executive in March 2022.{{cite news |title=Grenfell Tower inquiry chief to lead major ICS |url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/greater-manchester-ics/grenfell-tower-inquiry-chief-to-lead-major-ics/7032010.article |access-date=4 March 2022 |publisher=Health Service Journal |date=4 March 2022}}

The GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service was established in April 2022. By November 2022 97% of GP practices were signed up and almost 14,000 appointments had been referred. 20% of referrals were for children under the age of 10, mostly with skin complaints.{{cite news |title=GP CPCS delivers 'unexpected' insights across Greater Manchester |url=https://www.pharmacy.biz/gp-cpcs-delivers-unexpected-insights-across-greater-manchester/ |access-date=15 November 2022 |publisher=Pharmacy Business |date=15 November 2022}}