17th April 2009
Department of Health announce new pilots to unite health and social care
On 1 April, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw and Care Services Minister Phil Hope announced that patients in 16 pilot sites will benefit from a trial to see how health and social care services can join together to increase quality of care.
The £4 million scheme has been designed to look beyond traditional health and social care boundaries to explore how services for patients and service users can be improved. The scheme will then assess the benefits of different models of care and identify any best practice that could be used more widely.
Each site has developed new methods to help respond to particular local health needs. The health issues being tackled in each pilot include dementia, care for the elderly, substance misuse, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and end of life care. The methods involved vary widely; they include partnerships, new systems and care pathways that span primary, community, secondary and social care.
The pilots started on 1 April and will run for two years. They will be evaluated over three years against a set of national and local measures, including impact on health outcomes, improved quality of care, service user satisfaction, and effective relationships and systems.
For further information, please contact the Department of Health press office on 020 7210 5221.
(Source – News Distribution Service for Government and the Public Sector)