The health and care needs of people living in Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire are changing, with more people living longer, often with multiple long term conditions.
To tackle this and other health and care problems the NHS, local government and local third sector groups have formed a partnership to better meet our populations’ needs now and in the future.
BSW Together brings together many organisations who work together as an integrated care system (ICS). Collectively, we take responsibility to improve the health and wellbeing of local people, ensure that health and care services are high-quality and to make the most efficient use of our resources.
BSW Together became an ICS in December 2020. Before this time, since 2016, we have worked together as the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, so we have a long history of integrated working.
Together, we have the following collective vision:
Working together to empower people to lead their best life
Our collective approach is underpinned by five key strategic aims:
- Reform the quality and experience of care
- Improve the health and wellbeing of the population
- Reduce health and care inequalities
- Reduce the cost of health care and protect social and economic resources
- Increase staff wellbeing and retain, attract and deploy an inclusive, engaged and flexible workforce
Working together during the Covid pandemic
Partners across BSW have worked closer together since the emergence of Covid-19 and in March 2021, to mark one year of the pandemic, we made the below film.
We are also guided by seven key principles:
- To work as one system with equal importance placed on social care and wellbeing, mental and physical wellbeing
- Prevention first, and recognition of the wider determinants of health
- Care designed around individuals
- Wherever possible people are supported at home including discharge from hospital to home
- Digital by default – an emphasis on the role IT and technology can play in the health and care of local people
- Flexible workforce - our workforce operates in multidisciplinary teams beyond organisational boundaries
- 7-day provision of health and care services
BSW Together - Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Integrated Care System? How do Integrated Care Systems work? How will they affect patients and local people?
Find the answers to these questions and more here: What is BSW ICS? (ppt, 3.52MB)