Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and Torbay Council and partners, were this week (21 March) announced as the winner in the Health and Social Care category in the 2018 national Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards.

The LGC awards are the biggest and most prestigious awards ceremony for the local government sector.

The awards seek to identify and recognise local government’s greatest innovators, whose achievements are often under reported. They aim to shine a spotlight on the achievements of those councils and their partners whose pioneering best practice can inspire others to improve services.

In October 2015, the coming together of acute and community health and adult social care services in Torbay and South Devon resulted in the creation of an Integrated Care Organisation (ICO). The new organisation has developed an ambitious new model of care founded on the principles of integration and personalisation.

This integrated care is improving people’s experiences of health and social care, giving people more say in decisions about their care, supporting people to manage their own health and wellbeing, aiming to reduce health inequalities and develop services to meet the needs of an older than average population often with complex needs.

A key aim is for people, with the right support, to be able to live as independently as possible in their own homes and communities. To do this millions of pounds has been invested into community services so that more people can receive care at home or in their community rather than having to be admitted into hospital or return home sooner if they medically needed a hospital stay.

The changes in how care has been delivered reduces the need for beds and has enabled savings to be made in bed based care and help to sustain the provision of high quality care in to the future.

Executive Lead for Adults and Children, Councillor Julien Parrott, said: “This award represents national recognition of not only all the past work by Torbay Council and our partners in delivering the ICO, but also our shared on-going commitment to further integration of health and social care for the good of all the residents of the Bay. My grateful thanks go to everyone involved.”

Liz Davenport, Interim Chief Executive of Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust said: “To say that we are delighted to win the LGC award is an understatement. To receive recognition at this level for work that has taken place is just fantastic.

“Our staff and partners have worked incredibly hard to implement the new model of care and enable more people to receive care closer to home. So much work goes on behind the scenes every day to drive forward our agenda for improving care, health outcomes and enabling people to lead their best life possible.

“I am just incredibly proud to work with everybody at the Trust and in our partnership organisations and all of what we have achieved so far. This award is dedicated to every single individual who keeps the wheels turning and helps to drive transformation and innovation in our local area.”

Hull City Council and NHS Hull CCG were runners up and received highly commended.

Details of all the awards and winners can be found at www.awards.lgcplus.com.