‘Can, not can’t’ – delivering personalised care on the frontline

Effective personalised care must focus on individual strengths, daily activities and social connections, new report finds. Read report here

No hospital is an island: Acute Care collaborations demonstrate new ways of working

A new report on lessons learnt from the acute care collaborations includes case studies highlighting how vanguards are finding new ways to:

· Standardise clinical practice, pooling expertise, sharing vital patient information and analysing patient care across hospitals.

· Make better use of clinical support services, such as imaging and pathology.

· More creatively and flexibly use the skills of their healthcare professionals, reducing reliance on agency staff.

· Build innovative external partnerships with, for example, the pharmaceutical industry.

· Support more integrated health systems that champion person-centred care.

· Consolidate corporate support functions to generate efficiencies.

The report is available in full here https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/no-hospital-is-an-island-learning-from-the-acute-care-collaboratives/ 

Personalised Health and Care 2020: Patient Carers and Service User Vision

This DH paper outlines how the government and national health and care organisations aim to use information technology within current programmes, to improve health and social care services in England.

Choice in end of life care: government progress

How the National End of Life Care Programme Board is delivering personalisation and choice in care for people at or near the end of life.

One year on: the Government response to the review of choice in end of life care

This DH report sets out how the National End of Life Care Programme Board is delivering personalisation and choice in care for people at or near the end of life.

Person-centred care in 2017: evidence from service users

This report from National Voices attempts to create a snapshot of the extent of person-centred care in the English health and care system, based on how people report their experience of treatment, care and support. This data was found through surveys of patients and service users. It concludes that NHS services do not give people adequate control of their own health and care, and there is no reporting of whether people’s care is coordinated across health and social care.

New framework to promote person-centred approaches in healthcare

Skills for Health, Health Education England and Skills for Care have announced a new Framework to support person-centred approaches for the health and social care workforce.

The new framework, commissioned by Health Education England, helps workers communicate meaningfully both verbally and non-verbally, tailoring the care and advice they give to suit peoples’ needs. It supports individuals to better manage their own health and wellbeing through bespoke care, planning and support. Where appropriate, the framework encourages shared decision making, outlining all reasonable options and ensuring that all information is personalised, accessible and useful.

New standards for pharmacy professionals come into effect

All pharmacy professionals in Great Britain will have to meet new standards for pharmacy professionals. These came into effect on 12th May.  The nine standards describe how safe and effective care is delivered through person-centred professionalism, and replace the standards of conduct, ethics and performance.

What’s Stopping You Appointing A Patient Director? An open letter to all healthcare organisations

Very few organisations employ a patient director, a senior executive responsible for turning all the rhetoric about involvement and patient-centred care into reality.

In an open letter to healthcare chief executives, David Gilbert, patient director at Sussex MSK Partnership, asks what’s stopping other organisations from following suit.  

Quality, service improvement and redesign (QSIR)

New collection from NHS Improvement. This suite of programmes provides clinical and non-clinical staff with the know-how to design and implement more efficient, patient-centred services. Based on tried and tested tools and approaches, it covers the breadth of service improvement skills.

Delivering Outcomes Based Care in Diabetes

Last November and December, commissioners were able to debate how current models of diabetes care could be adapted to tackle the crisis at two workshops. Write-ups of the presentations are now available.

• Helping diabetes patients to get a life 
• Technology holds the key to personalised care 
• GPs leading new diabetes care pathway in Dudley 
• Liverpool partnership marries interests of patients, professionals and providers
• Outcomes must drive change but not crash the system

A New Relationship With People And Communities: Actions For Delivering Chapter 2 Of The NHS Five Year Forward View

As part of the NHS five year forward view, the People and Communities Board was invited to recommended a set of high-impact actions for adopting person- and community-centred approaches to health and social care. Chapter two of the forward view sets out a vision of health and care where people are fully engaged with their health. This report outlines actions and related recommendations for making this vision a reality. The actions address key areas in the NHS where substantial progress can be made over the next year.

New care centres to improve services for millions with complex needs

‘Early Adopter’ sites have been added  to NHS England's Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC) programme, giving18 IPC footprints across 33 CCGs. Significant interest has been shown from Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) who have incorporated the IPC model into their local plans as a means of transforming care and creating a sustainable health economy.

Multimorbidity – the biggest clinical challenge facing the NHS?

In this joint blog, Dawn Moody and David Bramley argue multimorbidity is becoming the norm. They take a look at the adverse impact this can have upon individual quality of life and examine its association with higher mortality, adverse drug events and greater use unplanned care.

The recent publication of the NICE guideline on multimorbidity offers clear direction in this complex area. It uses a tailored approach to put people at the heart of decisions about their care and helps professionals and commissioners to offer their best advice and support.  Here are six practical top tips to help make the most of the guideline in clinical practice:

Realising the value

Report from the Health Foundation on their realsing the value programme that aimed to consolidate what is known about person- and community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing, and make recommendations on how they can have maximum impact.

Ten key actions to put people and communities at the heart of health and wellbeing are highlighted.

Influencing best practice in breast cancer

The Cancer Australia Statement – Influencing best practice in breast cancer is a summary of 12 practices that have been identified as appropriate or inappropriate for the provision of breast cancer care in Australia.

Patient activation and why it is relevant to community pharmacy

Briefing from PSNC on patient activation.  Although it is aimed at community pharmacies, there are sections describing patient activation and its importance.

Agile conference hears about importance of person-centred care

A person-centred approach is vital for the successful physical rehabilitation of people with dementia.

This was one of the messages from specialist physiotherapist Jane Blakey to members of AGILE, the professional network for physiotherapists working with older people, at a conference held in Newcastle from 8-9 October.

Delegates discussed the importance of tapping into a patient’s long-term memory and of considering the rhythm and tone of their voice. Ms Blakey described how patients with dementia retain their hearing and are able to interpret facial expressions and non-verbal cues.

All types of communication should be used, she said, adding: ‘It is crucial that positive engagement techniques are used from the start of your communication with patients, even before your assessment begins.’

Using appreciative inquiry to implement person-centred dementia care in hospital wards

The quality of care of persons with dementia in hospitals is not optimal and can be challenging. Moreover, staff may find difficulty in translating what they have learned during training into practice. This paper report the development and evaluation of a set of workshops using an appreciative inquiry approach to implement person-centred dementia care in two hospital wards. Staff worked collaboratively to develop a ward vision and to implement a number of action plans. Using appreciative inquiry approach, staff attitudes towards persons with dementia improved, inter-professional collaboration was enhanced and small changes in staff practices were noted. Dementia care in hospitals can be enhanced by empowering staff to take small but concrete actions after they engage in appreciative inquiry workshops, during which they are listened to and appreciated for what they can contribute.

Dementia October 6, 20161471301216663953

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Spreading change/Supporting self-management (Person-Centred Care)

The Health Foundation in partnership with the innovation charity Nesta has published two reports in their realising value series which aims to strengthen the case for people taking an active role in their health and care. Spreading change: a guide to enabling the spread of person- and community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing: outlines how behavioural science can help spread the take-up of person- and community-centred approaches to health and wellbeing. It is aimed at people who champion these approaches in health and social care, in other statutory bodies and in community-based organisations

Supporting self-management: A guide to enabling behaviour change for health and wellbeing using person- and community-centred approaches: This guide offers two things: a framework for understanding and changing behaviour, and real-world examples of how these changes happen in practice