Northgate makes new appointment to integrate health and social care

Northgate Public Services today announces the appointment of Andy Gordon-Jones as Northgate’s first Director of Health and Social Care. The organisation has brought together its leading social work practice with its rapidly growing health business to respond to the growing need for personalised and integrated health and social care services. Andy will spearhead the growth of the business through the development of innovative responses to the challenges facing both commissioners and providers of care in the current economic climate, and in the context of new patterns of care emerging over future years. The company is committed to ensuring that the user’s voice is heard within the health and social care debate and that patients and users are involved in the design and delivery of services, including preventative services. Andy’s appointment builds on the success of Northgate’s work running national programmes such as the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) service, Patient Reported Outcomes Measures (PROMs) and world class child and adult screening programmes such as the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP), while working at a local level with Primary Care Trusts and local authorities through its adult and children’s social care solution. It is this combination which Northgate believes will help drive innovation into the market. Andy has over 18 years experience of working within the public services market, most recently working for seven years as Director of the healthcare group within Northgate. Ian Blackhurst, Managing Director, Public Safety, Northgate Public Services, said today: “This appointment marks a step change in the development of our health and social care businesses. We wholeheartedly support a radical programme to transform the way that health and social care is delivered. It must be wrapped around the needs of users and wherever possible delivered in the community. “We are committed to working with health and social professionals to develop responsive and inclusive services and we have listened to what they say. We now have the mechanisms in place to support the much-needed innovation that is so necessary to improve the quality of care for our citizens” Andy Gordon-Jones, Director of Health and Social Care, added: “We have both the vision and the experience to support a national public health service that promotes both individual and community well-being. We have to move beyond a ‘sickness service’ and empower professionals and citizens to work together to prevent ill health and to provide for those who have low needs. We need to encourage collaboration with services such as housing and employment so that we create more efficient and effective community-based services.” [Ends] Notes to Editors 1.Northgate Public Services is an innovative provider of transformation and improvement services to the public sector. It is committed to high quality public services that place individuals and their communities at their heart. Its knowledge and understanding of people’s needs are core to its business, as too, is its depth and breadth across public services. 2.Northgate’s task is to enhance public value through the intelligent use of people and technology; to understand why and what change is necessary; to provide new thinking leading to improved performance; and to link company rewards with positive outcomes for the communities for whom it works. It supports transformation through sustainable performance partnerships. 3.In the UK, Northgate works with ninety five per cent of local authorities, every police force, and a large number of health organisations, housing associations, utilities and transport companies. Founded in 1969, the company has more than 12,000 employees.

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