Livewell Southwest is proud to announce it has been shortlisted alongside partners in three categories of the HSJ Partnership Awards 2025.
Teams will be invited to present their projects to the judging panel, ahead of an award ceremony in London on Thursday 20 March.
Most Effective Contribution to Integrated Health and Care: Homefirst (alongside University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust – UHP)
Since 2021, Livewell and UHP have partnered through the Healthy Lives Partnership (HLP) to deliver integrated care across Plymouth. This collaboration aims to improve patient outcomes by supporting early intervention and care close to home, reducing and avoiding hospital stays, streamlining patient flow, and promoting recovery at home, where patients can regain independence.
A key initiative of this partnership is the Discharge 2 Assess (D2A) programme, which involves Livewell, UHP, Devon Integrated Care Board, Plymouth City Council, and Improving Lives Plymouth. Their shared goal is to increase the proportion of complex patients discharged home on ‘Pathway 1’ (P1) where patients can return home with support that promotes independence and recovery, through the ‘Homefirst Champion’ campaign.
At the start of the D2A programme, 23% of complex patients were discharged on P1. Partners set a target of increasing this to 75% to support the long-term health and independence of patients.
Initial efforts focused on Pathway 2 (discharge to a further bedded facility), which allowed the team to enhance P1 based on outcomes and feedback. This reduced the number of patients transferred to Pathway 2, leading to 128% increase in P1 discharges and the creation of the Discharge Coordination Hub.
The ‘Homefirst Champion’ campaign, developed through the HLP, significantly improved patient outcomes, focusing on increasing P1 discharges. The campaign enables more complex patients to return home with support, promoting greater independence and recovery. This not only enhances the patient experience but also reduced hospital stays, allowing patients to recover in familiar surroundings where they reported improved wellbeing.
A key achievement has been the reduction in waiting times for discharge. Through the reorganisation of discharge processes, the time a patient spends in hospital awaiting community placement has been shortened. This has freed up acute beds, improved patient flow, reduced congestion and had a positive impact on waiting times in the emergency department. Over 12 months, there was a 3% improvement in the NRTR (No Right To Reside) position (when a patient no longer meets clinical criteria to stay in hospital bed).
Additionally, the partnership addressed inefficiencies in identifying and supporting unpaid carers. With Improving Lives Plymouth playing a crucial role in making this a priority improved carer support has increased P1 discharges, as patients with carer assistance are more likely to return home safely. The increased capacity in the community, supported by Devon ICB and the Peripatetic team, has been critical to this success, contributing to a reduction in re-admissions for complex patients of 15 per month.
The partnership has resulted in cost savings by minimising the need for community hospital or care home stays, as more patients can safely return home. Hospital staff wellbeing has also improved, with reduced pressure from discharge delays, allowing them to focus on patient care.
Healthcare Infrastructure Project of the Year: The Mount Gould Neurological Rehabilitation Service Relocation Project (alongside various partners)
The Mount Gould Project represents a significant step forward in enhancing patient care and staff wellbeing within the NHS. The primary objective was to relocate the Plymouth Neurological Rehabilitation Service from outdated facilities on the Mount Gould Campus to a modern, underutilised space at the Local Care Centre (LCC). This strategic relocation is designed not only to improve the patient experience but also to create a more conducive working environment for our dedicated staff.
The project was driven by a dedicated steering group comprising key stakeholders, including NHS England, Community Health Partnerships, NHS Property Services, NHS Devon Integrated Care Board, Livewell Southwest, ReSound Health LIFTCo, and Baxendale. Together, these organisations aligned their financial, operational, and strategic goals to ensure a smooth and successful transition.
This project exemplifies how strategic master planning and collaboration between public and private sector partners can successfully transform NHS facilities, optimise resource allocation, and enhance the experience for both patients and staff.
Patients will transfer to the new Plym Neuro on Tuesday 10 December, months ahead of the original schedule.
The unit has been completely reimagined, moving away from an old ward format to a new spacious fit-for-purpose layout, that offers more space to help reenable patients after a traumatic injury or surgery. The service is run by Livewell Southwest to support a return to independent living through targeted neuro rehabilitation after the acute phase of their recovery.
The aim of the rehabilitation process is to support a return to independent living and the new spacious layout will encourage patients to move around with greater ease, helping to rebuild their cognitive and motor skills.
The new unit has seven single occupancy rooms (compared to three in the former unit). Each room is fully ensuite and equipped with full overhead hoisting facilities to support patients at every stage of their rehabilitation and individual rooms provide a greater level of privacy. There are two bays of four-beds for service users that may have enhanced care needs.
Therapy and treatment spaces feature both standard and wheelchair height kitchen work surfaces. This aims to enhance the independence of patients during their stay on the unit, ready for when they are able to return home.
Most Impactful Project Addressing Health Inequalities: Reducing hospital waiting times for people with learning disabilities
Livewell has been working as part of a system response, led by University Hospitals Plymouth and Optum UK to analyse data relating to hospital waiting times for people with learning disabilities.
Optum’s data analysis of UHP’s acute and specialist waiting lists demonstrated people with learning disabilities experienced differential access to elective care, with median outpatient waits of 61 days (50% longer than the general population). While waiting, people with learning disabilities sought emergency care services five times more frequently and cost five times as much as others who were waiting.
Through co-production with service users, UHP and Optum UK, worked with partners to develop a systems approach to cut waiting times by seven days (30%) and better address user needs.
