A MAJOR review of health and social care across Huddersfield and Calderdale has been launched.

Seven organisations have joined forces to ensure local health services meet the modern-day demands of patients.

The programme, called the Calderdale and Huddersfield Health and Social Care Strategic Review, also aims to promote best practice.

The health and social care system has undergone major change in recent years - not least because of medical advances - with more people being treated nearer to where they live or at home.

Challenges faced in the future include:

The fact people are living longer and have more complex conditions and needs;

There is less public money which increases pressure to seek better value;

Expected standards of care and best practice continue to rise;

The need to provide a full service 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week;

Problems recruiting health specialists in certain areas.

The review will look at four main areas: unplanned care, planned care, long-term care and children’s care.

Patients and staff will be asked for their views over the next few months.

The organisations involved in the consultation are: Kirklees and Calderdale councils, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, South West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust, Locala Community Interest Company and the Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale commissioning groups, which are GP bodies which will ‘buy in’ health services from April 2013.

Dr Paul Wilding, chairman of the review steering group and a member of the Greater Huddersfield commissioning group, said: “Health and social care services face real challenges over the next five years.

“People’s needs are changing, our population is ageing and the demand for services and support continues to increase.

“We want to make sure people get the best possible care to keep them healthy, safe and well and the only way to do this is to make significant changes to the way services are planned and delivered.

“We will be working with doctors, nurses and other clinical and social care staff, as well as service users and local people, to take full account of the challenges and opportunities we are facing, and look at how we can best work together to deliver services.”

Adrian Lythgo, chief executive of Kirklees Council (inset), said health and social care faced “significant challenges” and added: “We continue to see people’s needs changing, often with more complex health and support needs.

“To address this we need to continue to increase our focus on delivering support services that intervene as early as possible and prevent people losing their independence and improve their quality of life and well-being.

“In order to deliver high quality services that meet the needs of local people with the resources we have available, we need to continue to work in partnership.

“Improving the health and well-being and life chances for people living in Kirklees remains our top priority.”