37 areas to lead rollout of tool to deliver person-centred care

11 Jul 2016 03:51 PM

People with long-term conditions in 37 areas across England are next in line to receive person-centred support to manage their own care, thanks to the roll-out of an evidence-based tool over the next five years.

The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) is a validated tool which captures the extent to which people feel engaged and confident in taking care of their health and wellbeing, helping professionals tailor support to better meet their needs.

NHS England agreed a deal to grant 1.8 million people access to the tool as part of its developing Self Care Support programme, and invited local NHS organisations and their partners to apply to use them in their areas.

37 bids – including a number of new care model vanguards and sites working as part of the Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC) Programme – have now been confirmed, which will see use of the tool spread across England and applied to help improve care and outcomes for a variety of different patient groups.

For example:

Anu Singh, Director for Patient and Public Participation and Insight at NHS England, said: “We know that many patients want to be equal partners in their own care – supported to manage their conditions and keep themselves well, and empowered to make decisions about the services they do need. The Patient Activation Measure helps to break down the traditional divide between patient and professional which has prevented this in the past, while ensuring that those who need the most support receive it.

“I’m delighted we have been able to deliver this important tool to so many different areas, and I look forward to seeing the results of the many different plans they have to deliver more person-centred care and better outcomes for patients as a result.”

Measuring Patient Activation forms a core element of the NHS Five Year Forward View’s ambition for the NHS to become better at helping people to manage their own health by ‘staying healthy, making informed choices of treatment, managing conditions and avoiding complications’.

Compelling evidence collated in a report by the King’s Fund in 2014 shows that people who recognise that they have a key role in self-managing their condition, and have the skills, knowledge and confidence to do so, experience better health outcomes. One American study cited in the report found that the risk of highly activated patients being re-admitted to hospital following discharge was almost half that of less activated patients.

However, ability levels vary from person to person, which makes understanding and measuring an individual’s level of activation so important – by using the PAM, organisations can ‘meet people where they are’ and tailor support and services to the individual’s needs.

The list of organisations successful in securing free access to PAM licences is given below. All of these sites, in partnership with other organisations, will use the PAM tool to measure levels of patient activation in their local areas, tailor interventions and support people to manage their own health. Further details of how these organisations will use the PAM licences is available here.

NHS England will also work with some other sites to further develop their patient activation proposals.

Sites that are part of the Integrated Personal Commissioning Programme:

New Care Models Vanguard sites:

Test bed site: