HEALTH bosses in Worcestershire came together this week for the county’s first-ever risk summit.

The summit was arranged by NHS England in an effort to develop solutions to a range of problems in Worcestershire’s health sector including long waiting times at A&E, an increasing amount of people waiting for elective operations and difficulties with discharging patients to community hospitals or social care placements.

The event at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Wednesday, March 25 was attended by representatives from a range of organisations including Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Worcestershire County Council, NHS England and the county’s three Clinical Commissioning Groups.

An NHS England spokesman said a number of plans were agreed at the summit which it was hoped would cut waiting times and ensure patients were being treated in the most appropriate setting.

“The NHS and partner organisations across Worcestershire are committed in their aim of working together for the benefit of patients to ensure that the services they receive are clinically safe and sustainable now and in the future,” she said.

She added both the Trust Development Authority and the Care Quality Commission were also being given a chance to look into claims of bullying and harassment within the county’s health sector.

Chairman of the acute trust – which runs the Royal as well as Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital – Harry Turner said it was “really encouraging” to see health organisations working together to solve the problems.

“There was nothing said that was a surprise,” he said.

“There are some problems that we have to solve across the whole system.”

The trust’s chief executive Penny Venables said the day-long event was “really useful”.

“My impression is that NHS England is very keen to work very closely together with us and solve the problems.”

Other organisations involved in the summit included West Midlands Ambulance Service, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust – which runs the community and mental health services in the county – and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Although risk summits are a common approach when healthcare organisations are under strain, this was the first of its kind held in Worcestershire and came a day before health thinktank the King’s Fund issued a report saying the NHS was “deteriorating”.