LSPs

Local Strategic Partnerships provide a single overarching local coordination framework for local partnerships to operate. Every NHS organisation has a role to play in influencing and leading on carbon reduction within this framework. The LSP is responsible for developing and driving the implementation of the Local Area Agreement (LAA).

The NHS Plan stated the commitment that the NHS will support Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs), with Shifting the Balance of Power: Next Steps setting out the expectation that primary care trusts (PCTs) will engage fully in LSPs and other community based health and care initiatives.

A LSP is a single body that brings together at a local level the different parts of the public sector as well as the private, business, community and voluntary sectors so that different initiatives and services support each other and work together. Approximately two thirds of the 150 LAAs currently include a carbon reduction target in their set of indicators.

Locally, LSPs are central to tackling health inequalities.  There is no blueprint for how LSPs should co-ordinate their approach as this will depend on local needs and priorities.  All LSPs have sub-groups or thematic partnerships (often referred to as the LSP family of partnerships) which are responsible for effective targeting of resources to the neediest communities.

LSPs allow the various partners to work together to reshape their services to narrow the health gap locally, consistent with their own responsibilities.