Solihull NHS Care Trust is one of only nine Care Trusts in the country. That gives us a special opportunity to bring together health and social care services in a joined up fashion as well as to encourage all of us to adopt healthier lifestyles through a variety of health promotion programmes.

Our annual £356m budget is spent on a huge range of services for the 220,000 patients registered at GP practices in the borough. Our main spending is on healthcare from local hospitals, mostly the Heart of England Foundation Trust (which manages Solihull, Heartlands and Good Hope Hospitals), as well as from other healthcare providers. Solihull has 32 GP practices, 25 dental practices, 24 optometrists, 40 pharmacists and a GP-led walk-in health centre open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm for local residents as well as people who are visiting or working in the borough.

Community Services, the provider arm of the Care Trust, deliver community health and social care services by teams which bring together nursing, social care and occupational therapy staff based around GP practices. Out of hospital services help prevent people being admitted to hospital and help with patients being discharged from hospital into the community. Integrated disability teams provide services for people with a learning disability, physical and/or sensory disabilities and mental health problems.

The commissioning and provision of adult social care is a key component of the Care Trust’s function and is delivered mostly to older people, people with a disability, people with enduring mental illness and people with dementia. Care is provided for people who are assessed as in ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’ need.

The goal is to help people remain in their own homes, which is where the vast majority of people want to be. A range of provision is available including domiciliary, day, residential and nursing care which is purchased from independent providers as well as delivered by Community Services. Increasingly individuals are being awarded Direct Payments and supported to exercise greater personal control and choice over their own care and support requirements.

Carers are also a key client group; they have needs of their own and need the right support. Carers have a right to a carer’s assessment and in partnership with organisations like the Carers Centre and Age Concern we provide information and support including assistance for carers to access leisure and work opportunities.

It is an enormous job looking after the health, welfare and well-being of people in Solihull and a responsibility we take very seriously. In order to ensure that we are making the right decisions the Care Trust is “managed” and run by a Board of Directors and the Professional Executive Committee (PEC).