Health and care bodies reveal ‘footprint’ areas for transformation plans

Health and care bodies across England have revealed the 44 ‘footprint’ areas that will be responsible for developing local Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs).

STPs are a part of a new approach to ensure that health and care services are planned by region, rather than individual institutions, and must clearly show how each area will improve health and wellbeing, transform quality of care delivery and ensure finances are sustainable.

Frontline leaders worked together to agree the most appropriate boundaries, keeping in mind that different areas will have different needs, with populations ranging from 300,000 (in West, North and East Cumbria) to nearly three million people (in Greater Manchester).

Most of the 44 areas will be led by people already working in local health and care, with named individuals responsible for convening, overseeing and coordinating their STP work.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: “Now is quite obviously the time to confront – not duck – the big local choices needed to improve health and care across England over the next five years, and STPs are a way of doing this. Their success will largely depend on the extent to which local leaders and communities now come together to tackle deep-seated and long-standing challenges that require shared cross-organisational action. The NHS nationally will be working closely to support them in doing that.”