Planning must be driven by the needs of the local population and cannot be done in isolation. Working with strategic partners within the primary and community care system to understand the population need and collectively agree on priorities for action is an essential element of the planning process.
The landscape in primary and community care has evolved with the introduction of professional collaboratives and pan-cluster planning groups, and the broadening of the cluster membership to be a truly multi-disciplinary team. Strategic partners include:
Regional Partnership Board
Regional Partnership Boards (RPB) have been established as part of the Social Services and Well Being Act (Wales) 2014 to:
- Improve the well-being of the population.
- Improve how health and care services are delivered.
Section 14A of the Social Services and Well-being Act, places a joint duty on Local Health Boards and Local Authorities within the RPB to collaborate to:
- Produce a regional population needs assessments (Regional PNA) that identifies the health, care, and support needs of the population.
- Produce a regional area plan that sets out the five-year strategic vision for the RPB and include information on the range and level of services the regional partners propose to provide, or arrange to be provided, in response to the RPB PNAs.
- Provide a regional annual report.
- Demonstrate citizen engagement and co-production.
There are seven Regional Partnership Boards in Wales. Learn more about the Regional Partnership Boards.
Public Service Board
Public Services Boards (PSBs) improve joint working across all public services in each local authority area in Wales. Each board must carry out a well-being assessment, publish a local well-being plan and publish an annual report. The plan sets out how they will meet their responsibilities under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act.
There are 19 Public Service Boards in Wales. Learn more about the Public Service Boards.
Pan Cluster Planning Group
Pan Cluster Planning Group (PCPGs) provide the local footprint for the tactical delivery of RPB priorities contained within the RPB Area Plans. PCPGs 3-year strategic plans should coordinate the use of all available resources to meet local needs, provide the strategic direction to inform the development of their respective cluster plans, and commission services and develop agreements to support partnership working. Intelligence from clusters ensure that the PCPG strategic plan accurately reflects the populations health, care, and wellbeing needs, and supports actions to address issues raised across the system. PCPGs will support the implementation of the joint partnership agenda, including delivery of change at a variety of levels, appropriate to need.
Health boards
There is a clear expectation that health board planning arrangements will align with those of the RPB, PCPGs and clusters. Health boards should use PCPGs response to RPB Regional PNAs and Regional plans to inform their Integrated Medium Term Plans (IMTP) and PCPGs and cluster plans should visibly inform (and be informed by) health board IMTP, providing a solid foundation to provide care closer to home, improve population health and reduce inequalities.
Clusters
Clusters are the local footprint to support and enable collaborative multi-disciplinary service planning and delivery for the population served and are the most local level of service planning and coordination. Clusters have been producing cluster plans for several years, initially guided by the GMS QOF/QIAF requirements (since 2014) and more recently through NHS Wales Director General (2020/2023) and NHS Planning Framework (2021/22 onwards) guidance. Cluster Plans should be developed to coordinate collaborative activities and to inform and be informed by the PCPG analysis, priorities, and strategic plans. Cluster plans should also be informed by the intelligence produced and generated from the respective professional collaboratives that feed into the cluster footprint.
Professional collaboratives
Professional collaboratives provide a structure to support connection with peers to review the quality and safety of local services, share experience and good practice for the area of expertise and to advocate for service improvement. Professional collaboratives are therefore an ideal forum to gather professional and user experience of the health and care system to inform priority setting and planning.
