Within her blog, Caroline reflects on starting out in WYAAT and the journey the Elective Recovery Programme has taken to date.

Read how the Yorkshire Imaging Collaborative (YIC) are implementing shared learning events, in line with Royal College of Radiologists’ (RCR) guidelines to improve outcomes for both patients and radiology staff.

Hello, my name is Dr Sal Uka, and I’m proud to be the Medical Lead for the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT). In this blog I am going to take the opportunity to reflect my thoughts on the WYAAT journey so far, and where we should aim to be in the future.

In our latest blog, new WYAAT Director Lucy Cole discusses the importance of building and maintaining relationships across the collaborative to deliver real benefits to patients.

Two WYAAT colleagues Michael Wright and Hayley Conlon share their experience of working through the pandemic while completing their apprenticeships in project management.

In our latest blog, Programme Lead, Stuart MacMillan, shares how WYAAT is enabling trusts to better manage their supply chain processes, to improve patient outcomes and reduce clinical variation, through the delivery of Scan4Safety.

In our latest blog, technology programme manager, Aidan Lee, talks about how the Yorkshire Imaging Collaborative is connecting radiology services across WYAAT and beyond. 

In our latest blog, Janine Bontoft talks about plans for the implementation of a single Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to support pathology services across the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Pathology Network.

Matt Graham pays tribute to WYAAT programme colleagues for their exceptional hard work and flexibility throughout this difficult time and a big thank you to the incredibly dedicated and hardworking teams we work with in all the WYAAT hospital trusts.

An Introduction from Matt Graham, WYAAT Director, to our 2019/20 Annual Report.

In our latest blog, Project Manager Liz Bolton-Speight shares how WYAAT is enabling trusts to better understand their workforce capacity and availability and plan their patient services more effectively.

Carly Wilson, Education Lead at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and WYAAT Enabling Staff Movement Programme Manager, reveals how a West Yorkshire and Harrogate workforce initiative is making it easier for NHS colleagues to move between organisations.

Sarah Broadhead-Crofts, WYAAT Workforce Programme and West Yorkshire and Harrogate Care Partnership Project Manager, shares her experience of improving working conditions for working carers across West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

Jon Edwards, WYAAT Procurement Programme Manager, shares his experiences supporting the Covid-19 response by sourcing supplies of much needed resources, including PPE, for hospitals across the region.

Two weeks ago, 150 patients, clinicians and leaders from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate came together to celebrate and share good practice in enhancing patient experience and outcomes through improving cancer waiting times performance, with a particular focus on our most challenging tumour sites, prostate and lung.

This blog comes from Martin Barkley, CEO for Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and CEO Lead for the Partnership’s Innovation and Improvement Programme, looking at how innovation is transforming health and care across West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

I think we’re incredibly fortunate to operate in the environment that is created and fostered by the Partnership and by WYAAT. In my first 100 days or so it has felt as if that is an environment in which collaboration, respect, support and peer challenge are promoted and I think that’s an incredibly important enabler for us to do our work in our places.

The clinical role for WYAAT is new and involves providing clinical leadership for the hospital programmes and taking a strategic and innovative view of clinical services. It is also all about promoting engagement and collaboration with clinical teams; and forging links within West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.

A round-up of some of the programmes and projects WYAAT have been working together on recently

As the Programme Director for the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT - hospitals working together), my role is to work with colleagues in the six acute hospital trusts in the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.

The West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT) is an innovative collaboration, which brings together the six NHS trusts (Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust) who deliver acute hospital services across West Yorkshire and Harrogate.

As the NHS turns 70, we wanted to take the opportunity to shine a spotlight on how our hospitals in West Yorkshire and Harrogate are working together to ensure they will continue to provide outstanding care and support to everyone who needs it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - and for the next 70 years.

As we approach winter, we are seeing concerted efforts across health and care to prepare effectively for winter. One of the conversations we have been having with NHS England and NHS Improvement is the role of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate partnership in managing winter pressures. In our partnership, with our focus on local places and systems, most of the work gets done through local A&E delivery boards and local partners.