NHS Trusts are leading new approaches to ensure patients can get the care they need in the right place at the right time. That’s according to a new report from NHS Providers, which shows how in the face of a very challenging environment Trusts are innovating and adapting to deliver the three key shifts called for by the government: moving from hospital to community-based care, from analogue to digital technology, and from a focus on treatment to prevention. However, more resource is needed to fully unlock the shift.
Through a series of case studies, the report, Providers Deliver: shifting care upstream, shows how Trusts are well placed to drive this transformation. These case studies include:
• Tackling the wider determinants of health to improve patient flow, with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Reducing demand for emergency care by providing support at home, with East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Improving mental health crisis care from the ground up, with North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
• Harnessing a culture of continuous improvement to deliver care in the right place, with Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
• Taking the next step from Hospital at Home to early intervention, with Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.
The report concludes that the development of the new 10-year plan for health is a chance to further develop preventative, patient-centred and community-based models of care.
Launching the report, the Chief Executive of NHS Providers, Sir Julian Hartley, said:
"This Providers Deliver report illustrates how NHS Trusts and their partners are working to ensure people can access and receive the care they need in the right place, at the right time.
"The case studies, involving a range of different Trusts, demonstrate just a small selection of ways in which Trusts are already aligning with the ‘three shifts’ of the new government: hospital to community, analogue to digital and treatment to prevention. The examples here highlight how they are really driving forward the ‘left shift’ and increasing the amount of patient need that is being met within the community and out of hospital.
"By working across organisational boundaries, including with primary care, and partnering with the voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) sector and social care, NHS Trusts are better serving their local populations and achieving more for taxpayers. Trusts will continue to develop fresh, forward-thinking initiatives to support people at, or closer to, their own home, and at an earlier stage of their illness.
"The forthcoming 10-year plan for health presents an opportunity to develop and embed this approach. But it will require national investment in and prioritisation of primary and community care to hardwire the changes we all want to see."
