Spotlight case study: Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership is one of the largest and most complex integrated care systems, with a history of devolution and integration since 2016. NHS Greater Manchester (NHS GM) is the Integrated Care Board for Greater Manchester. The ambition is for Greater Manchester to be a city region where everyone has a fair opportunity to live a good life; has improved health and wellbeing; experiences high quality care and support where and when they need it and where everyone works together to make a difference now and for the future. 

There are two key programmes in Greater Manchester, Dementia United and the local Discharge Frontrunner programme. Although they have been initiated through different routes, the two programmes have worked together to develop relationships and share learning. In particular, Dementia United has served as a conduit for disseminating the learning and developments from the Discharge Frontrunner work, to partners across Greater Manchester. The local Frontrunner programme has in turn, been able to gain involvement from Dementia United via the Dementia Carers’ Expert Reference Group (DCERG) and people with lived experience; a valuable source of involvement and feedback from people who have experienced the challenges of a hospital stay, firsthand.

Longer term, Dementia United as a well-established programme that incorporates a number of system wide initiatives, provides a central place to sustain aims to improve the provision and experience of person centred care closer to home, hospital stay and discharge beyond the life of specific time limited programmes such as the local Discharge Integration Frontrunner scheme. Dementia United will be seeking to build the recommendations from the Frontrunner programme into the refresh of its delivery plans and priorities for 2025 and beyond.

Dementia United

Dr Claire Lake, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, NHS Greater Manchester

Email: [email protected]  

Discharge Front Runner Programme

Lindsey Darley, Programme Director, Northern Care Alliance

Email: [email protected]