KSS AHSN Newsletter – 02 October 2014

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In this week’s edition

The iPod moment for health and social care

The title of this week’s blog comes from a session Fiona Edwards, Marion Dinwoodie and I attended recently on technology and its health applications.

Realising the potential

Last week 25 of us from KSS met at the King’s Fund for a roundtable discussion on integrating care. It followed their conference on “Realising the potential of primary care”.

Key points were:

  • How ‘fully engaged’ patients with patient-held records maintain independence, improving safety and reducing healthcare costs
  • How social prescribing to voluntary organisations does the same
  • How email consultations and excellent web-content reduce demand for 1:1 face to face GP consultations
  • How tailored primary-care, integrated with access to specialists, improves quality and reduces overall costs of care for older people with multiple long term conditions.

Delivering in Brighton and Hove

For a local example of delivery, take a look at what is underway in Brighton and Hove. I’d like to thank Jonathan Serjeant, GP and Chair of Extended Primary integrated Care (EPiC) for joining the roundtable discussion, having shared the conference stage with Hazel Carpenter from South Kent Coast and Thanet CCGs.

Also on stage was a patient from Tameside and Glossop. Holding her own electronic health record, she coordinates care provided by seven hospital consultants, avoids delays caused by the late arrival of letters in the mail, sidesteps the inefficiency of chasing her GP practice for test results, maintains her independence and travels abroad confidently.

Significantly she also retains more of the expert advice conveyed in 1:1 face to face consultations. Her personal story aligns well with that memorable research finding from Tameside and Glossop, which found one third of patients made lifestyle changes after seeing their patient record. [Fitton, London Journal of Primary Care, Feb 2014: 29.)

Compelling

Some other compelling stats from the conference and roundtable discussion:

  • ChenMed’s care of older people with multiple long term conditions reduces the overall cost of care by 20% and hospital bed day occupancy by 38%.
  • The Hurley Group of primary care practices have a cheaper staffing mix than most GP practices: 18% of contacts are closed by the patient choosing to self-manage, 60% of patient contacts are closed via email or telephone consultations.
  • 90% of information conveyed in 1:1 face to face consultations is not remembered by patients.

The iPod has already been rendered obsolescent by the iPhone. But it marked a sea change in realising the potential of digital music. A similar unlocking of the power of digitisation in health is still to be fully achieved but may yet hold the key to primary care and NHS sustainability.

Kind regards,

Guy Boersma
Managing Director, KSS AHSN

Invitation to whole system modelling event

System Modelling is a powerful method for testing, understanding the implications of and building consensus around proposed service configurations and care pathway changes.

KSS AHSN is keen to promote the wider use of System Modelling and is holding a one-day event on 6 November 2014 at the Gatwick Holiday Inn. Key features include:

  1. Aims
    • To demonstrate how System Modelling can be used to test and enable healthcare improvement
    • To identify how System Modelling can improve services for older people in KSS
    • To stimulate interest and connect users and suppliers with an interest in using System Modelling in KSS
  2. Outcomes
    • Connections made, knowledge exchanged, interest developed
    • Users and suppliers with a better understanding of each other and the potential for System Modelling in improving services for older people in KSS
    • Candidates identified for KSS AHSN joint project(s)
  3. Attendance
    • Users: NHS, Public Health, Social Care and Local Authority staff involved in service improvement and commissioning.
    • Suppliers: Industry, academics and NHS organisations experienced in providing System Modelling software and expertise.

There are slots for Case Study presentations and slots for demonstrations. Please contact Gill Potts if you are currently active in modelling and are interested in presenting or demonstrating your work / product.

‘Outstanding’ award for Frimley Park Hospital

Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the first in the country to be rated as ‘Outstanding’ overall by England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals.

Research scan alert

This month’s alert from The Health Foundation features highlights of the latest studies about healthcare improvement from its research scan.

The focus is on studies in four areas: Person-centred care, Patient safety, Value for money and Approaches to improvement.

Find out more about research scan

WMAHSN Health and Wealth Economic Summit

The West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN) invites you to attend one or both days of their forthcoming Health and Wealth Economic Summit for the West Midlands.

Day one of the WMAHSN Health and Wealth Economic Summit, Innovation, Investment and Productivity, takes place at the NEC, Birmingham on Tuesday 21 October from 9.30am – 4pm. Opening with an address by George Freeman MP, Minister for Life Sciences, this day is aimed at representatives from industry, NHS and academia.

Day two of the Health and Wealth Economic Summit, EU Funding, Working with LEPs and Creating 21st Century Life Science and Healthcare Jobs in the Region, will be held on Wednesday 22 October at the Post Graduate Centre, University Hospitals Birmingham from 9.30am – 4.30pm. Aimed at representatives from the NHS, AHSNs, LETBs and LETCs, local authorities and the third sector, there will be various speakers and two panel sessions.

For further information and registration please click here.

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