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Engage, improve, explain

He emphasised that: “We need to engage patients in improving and maintaining their own health, and empower and support their families and carers.

We need to improve public health, and help patients with chronic disease manage their conditions through better use of new information, communication and medical technologies.

And we need to better explain the importance of consolidating some specialist services into centres of excellence to improve outcomes for patients, while caring for people out of hospital when they can be better cared for in their own homes."

Challenging

Mr Farrar made the point that: “making these changes will be very challenging. In some areas much-loved local hospitals may need to change their roles or even close, and NHS managers and clinicians will have to actively involve local communities in planning and agreeing the changes that need to take place to maintain high-quality care. 

Open and transparent conversations

“These are significant changes for the NHS, and we need an open and transparent conversation with patients, the public and politicians about the best way to provide health and social care services in the future.”

Read the report in full on the King's Fund website.

Ensuring effective integrated out-of-hospital care

The NHS Confederation's forthcoming publication Making integrated out-of-hospital care a reality, developed in partnership with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), will provide a set of clear principles for ensuring effective integrated care outside of the hospital setting.

These principles, agreed in a roundtable event involving a range of stakeholders from across health and care, are underpinned by drivers and case studies outlined in the document. The briefing will be published in October and available from our publications library.