New plan details how to make NHS fit for the future
Earlier this month, the government published its long awaited 10-Year Health Plan for the NHS.
Its arrival marks the start of an ambitious period of evolution for the health service, and sets out how the government intends to bring care closer to home for millions of patients.
At its core, the plan centres around three key shifts:
- Hospital to community
- Analogue to digital
- Sickness to prevention
Many exciting projects and developments, all of which align with the vision set out in the plan, are already under way across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.
Some examples include:
- Integrated community-based care – HCRG Care Group is leading an innovative partnership with the NHS, local authorities, charities and voluntary groups to provide more joined-up and streamlined health and care services in communities.
- Integrated health centres – These not only provide a hub for integrated health and care services, but also brings the NHS closer to peoples’ homes. The ICB already has Devizes Health Centre and Trowbridge Integrated Care Centre is currently under construction.
- Community diagnostic centres – There are three CDCs across BSW, all of which provide a range of diagnostic services, meaning thousands more appointments in the community and quicker diagnoses for patients.
- Electronic Patient Record system (EPR) – This state-of-the-art digital platform helps clinicians to work more efficiently, as the cutting-edge technology allows staff to have access to health-related information when and where it is needed most.
- Virtual wards – Supported by EPR, this initiative allows patients to be looked after in the comfort of their own home, or place of care, with a personalised care plan.
The 10-Year Health Plan was informed, in part, by the biggest ever national conversation about the NHS, which the ICB supported locally by reaching out to various communities and listening to their experiences of the NHS.
The insights, comments and ideas from these conversations are available to read online.
More information about the 10-Year Health Plan can be found by following the links below: