• The Solihull Together for Better Lives urgent and emergency care vanguard aims to improve services by creating a whole-system, integrated approach to care and support.
• In this podcast, we hear about the background of the vanguard, what it has achieved to date, and future plans.
• The Solihull Together for Better Lives partnership comprises the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, NHS Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group, primary care, and lay members representative of the Solihull population.

NHS Providers, alongside the NHS Confederation, NHS Clinical Commissioners, and the Local Government Association, are working with the new care models team at NHS England to support a dissemination programme for the vanguard sites across England. 

Between now and March 2016, the programme will:

• provide members of each of the partners and wider stakeholders with examples of the experiences and lessons that vanguard sites have shared through podcasts, films, blogs, and an
• organise and deliver two events in Leeds and London to bring local leaders from health and social care together to discuss the implementation of the new care models and look at ways of addressing the health and well-being gap set out in the NHS Five year forward 
• set up a range of site visits across care model types and locations, for up to fifteen delegates each

This is the second in a series of three podcasts, which shares the learning and challenges in delivering the Solihull Together for Better Lives urgent and emergency care vanguard. The vanguard aims to improve services by creating a whole-system integrated approach to care and support, with a co-production approach involving people using services as well as their families and carers. The third sector also has a place at the table, as well as primary care providers.

This interview was recorded at the 2015 NHS Providers annual conference and was facilitated by NHS Providers director of policy and strategy Saffron Cordery. Our speakers were Andrew Foster, chief executive of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and John Short, chief executive of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Andrew and John talked about the background of the Solihull Together for Better Lives vanguard, what it has achieved to date and future plans. The locality has had a history of collaboration, and the vanguard has given a clear framework to support the existing partnerships that were in place.

Listen to the podcast on SoundCloud and find out about others in the series.