WGPlus (Archive)

Hospitals are too expensive for anything but specialist ‘non-mobile’ treatment

Plans to improve out of hospital care for the elderly & vulnerable will reduce emergency admissions, the DH and DCLG announced last week.  Following a review of the first set of local plans for the Better Care Fund, a renewed agreement has strengthened a commitment to bring health & care service providers closer together to make joint decisions, ensuring more people receive joined-up, personalised care closer to home. The fund and the benefits it is creating will be an enduring feature of health and care provision beyond 2016.

Building on existing practices whereby local government already purchases care services from a range of suppliers, the fund, with a shared budget of at least £3.8bn, will bring (from April 2015):

  • more dignity & independence for the frail & elderly by providing the care they need at or closer to home
  • 7-day health & care services — to ensure that people can access the care they need when they need it
  • a named professional— who can join up services around individuals, and prevent them from falling through the gaps
  • better data sharing — so that people don’t need to endlessly repeat their story to every professional who cares for them
  • joint assessments — so that services can work together to assess and meet people’s needs all in one go
Researched Links:
Webinar: Harnessing Phone-AI for Smarter Customer Service: A Local Government Guide