A joint research project aims to explore the opportunities for, and obstacles to, developing at-scale preventative health and care within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs).
The project is being run by the NHS Confederation with the University of Stirling, the. University of Southampton and Newton. It will take forward recommendations made by the Hewitt review to prioritise ill health prevention as a key driver for improvements in population health outcomes.
The research will map prevention work being undertaken at system, place and neighbourhood levels and the barriers that exist to collaborative prevention. The research team, professors Paul Cairney (University of Stirling) and John Boswell (University of Southampton), will conduct focus groups with system, place and neighbourhood leaders involved in prevention work locally.
Drawing on the research undertaken by the academics and the insight and expertise of Newton, a report and a toolkit will be published with practical examples and guidance on how local health and care leaders can overcome barriers to shifting focus and resource towards preventing ill health.
Get involved
NHS Confederation is seeking volunteers to participate in the research and is particularly interested in hearing from people directly involved in delivering or overseeing preventative care and interventions, including:
• System leaders, including from Integrated Care Boards and Integrated Care Partnerships
• Place leaders including those from voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, local government, patient organisations and all types of health and care providers
• Neighbourhood leaders, including from primary care.
Preventing ill health
The NHS Confederation is well placed to help support local systems to unlock examples of good prevention practice and facilitate scalable learning and improvement within systems.
Chief Executive, Matthew Taylor, says: “Integrated Care Systems will play a key role in shifting resources towards preventing ill health and reducing avoidable exacerbation to support communities to live long and healthy lives. I encourage health and care leaders at system, place and neighbourhood levels working on preventing ill health to seize the opportunity to participate in this important project, which will support them to adopt best practice and crucially shift to upstream preventions and interventions.”
If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about this project, please contact Annie Bliss, policy adviser at the NHS Confederation.
