How the voluntary sector can save an overstretched NHS: There should be more discussion around the potential for voluntary organisations to complement the NHS.
In recent months, we have seen further evidence that some parts of the NHS are overstretched, struggling to cope with financial pressures and are sometimes failing to meet required quality standards.
Many voluntary organisations have a detailed understanding of specific local needs, high levels of trust and engagement with local communities and the ability to work across multiple services to provide holistic care for individuals.
Partnerships with the voluntary sector can be effective for the NHS, if trusts are open to working with other organisations to build specific services around the needs of their patients. This could enable the NHS to focus on the delivery of wider general services and avoid being overstretched due to the provision of resource-intense specialist care for specific conditions.
As a leading charitable health and social care provider, Sue Ryder runs five neurological centres and seven hospices located across the UK, each providing specialist care for people with long-term conditions and life-changing illnesses.
We believe that more organisations should be open to partnership working with voluntary organisations that can provide specialist care for patients with specific conditions and can help to free up much-needed hospital beds as well as reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
In the first five months since it was launched, PEPS has co-ordinated the care of over more than patients and helped to reduce NHS costs by reducing avoidable emergency hospital admissions.
A single telephone number and central hub hosted by Sue Ryder was established to co-ordinate all palliative care across Bedforshire, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, using a shared electronic record system.
The partnership aimed to address an identified gap in services, enable more people to be cared for at home as they wished and also help reduce avoidable hospital admissions that were not only costly for the trust but also very distressing for the individuals at the end of their lives, and their families.
We increased nursing support by recruiting additional Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), established a single a 24-hour contact number for health or social care professionals to refer patients to our services and provided two specialist palliative care consultants.
Almost two years since the transfer of services, access to end-of-life care has greatly improved, with the number of patients seen by the CNS team and the number of patient contacts increasing by over 25%. The combination of the transfer of services to Sue Ryder and other initiatives has achieved a 50% reduction in annual emergency hospital admissions, a 50% reduction in excess bed days and the prevention of seven emergency admissions per month.
More successful partnerships can be made possible if trusts are willing to work with other organisations to improve services and meet local needs, whether that means transferring specialist services to improve quality and efficiency or increasing education available to staff.
Paul Woodward is the chief executive of Sue Ryder. Guardian Professional.
In recent months, we have seen further evidence that some parts of the NHS are overstretched, struggling to cope with financial pressures and are sometimes failing to meet required quality standards.
Many voluntary organisations have a detailed understanding of specific local needs, high levels of trust and engagement with local communities and the ability to work across multiple services to provide holistic care for individuals.
Partnerships with the voluntary sector can be effective for the NHS, if trusts are open to working with other organisations to build specific services around the needs of their patients. This could enable the NHS to focus on the delivery of wider general services and avoid being overstretched due to the provision of resource-intense specialist care for specific conditions.
As a leading charitable health and social care provider, Sue Ryder runs five neurological centres and seven hospices located across the UK, each providing specialist care for people with long-term conditions and life-changing illnesses.
We believe that more organisations should be open to partnership working with voluntary organisations that can provide specialist care for patients with specific conditions and can help to free up much-needed hospital beds as well as reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
NHS Bedfordshire – Partnership for Excellence in Palliative Support (PEPS)
We have seen first-hand how vital partnership working is for delivering effective palliative care through our Partnerships for Excellence in Palliative Support service (PEPS). The service, led by Sue Ryder and NHS Bedfordshire, has brought together 15 organisations in the local area to improve the continuity of care and experiences of patients in the final year of their lives.In the first five months since it was launched, PEPS has co-ordinated the care of over more than patients and helped to reduce NHS costs by reducing avoidable emergency hospital admissions.
A single telephone number and central hub hosted by Sue Ryder was established to co-ordinate all palliative care across Bedforshire, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, using a shared electronic record system.
NHS Berkshire West
In April 2011, Berkshire West Primary Care Trust (PCT) transferred all specialist palliative services to Sue Ryder. This was believed to be the first time an NHS-run hospice was transferred to a voluntary organisation.The partnership aimed to address an identified gap in services, enable more people to be cared for at home as they wished and also help reduce avoidable hospital admissions that were not only costly for the trust but also very distressing for the individuals at the end of their lives, and their families.
We increased nursing support by recruiting additional Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), established a single a 24-hour contact number for health or social care professionals to refer patients to our services and provided two specialist palliative care consultants.
Almost two years since the transfer of services, access to end-of-life care has greatly improved, with the number of patients seen by the CNS team and the number of patient contacts increasing by over 25%. The combination of the transfer of services to Sue Ryder and other initiatives has achieved a 50% reduction in annual emergency hospital admissions, a 50% reduction in excess bed days and the prevention of seven emergency admissions per month.
Increasing effective partnerships with the voluntary sector
In order to increase effective partnerships with the voluntary sector in future, there needs to be greater understanding and awareness of the specialist services voluntary organisations can offer and commissioners also need to be open to changes in contracting that will enable integrated and flexible working.More successful partnerships can be made possible if trusts are willing to work with other organisations to improve services and meet local needs, whether that means transferring specialist services to improve quality and efficiency or increasing education available to staff.
Paul Woodward is the chief executive of Sue Ryder. Guardian Professional.
No comments:
Post a Comment