Shifting care closer to home will ease pressure on hospitals | Ewan King There is growing evidence that a greater focus on prevention and self-care reduces demands on the NHS. We need to build on what works.
New year is associated with hope and optimism. But for the NHS, the headlines tell a different story: hospitals at full capacity. As you might expect, these articles focus on what is going wrong: headlines such as “NHS in crisis”, stories of beds in corridors and stressed-out nurses. Clearly these problems are real, but focusing only on hospitals won’t solve the problem. We need to think more broadly if we are to find lasting solutions; we must think about prevention, and how far it is embedded in local systems.
For some time, health and care reforms have been about shifting care closer to home. The programme of vanguards and sustainability and transformation plans was intended to herald a greater focus on prevention and self-care to reduce pressure on hospitals. There is some evidence that these reforms are working: Hertfordshire’s prevention-focused Better Care for Care Home Residents Vanguard, for instance, led to a 45% reduction in hospital admissions and A&E attendances between April 2015 and May last year. Continue reading... The Guardian
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