01.07.16
GMCA publishes new integrated care plans
Health and social care needs to be integrated in Manchester to improve public services for the city, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has said.
At a meeting yesterday, the GMCA’s health and social care strategic partnership board considered the results of a review into the city’s health and social care, which found that widespread change is needed.
In particular, it said an “asset-based approach” is needed, which puts people in need and their families in contact with services in their local community, including through a ‘GM Google’ to allow digital access to information about services.
The paper added that the current system of support for people at home is “broken” because of high costs, a weak market and lack of staff, and an unsustainable use of the £73m budget. It recommends replacing it with a more sustainable system.
Councils have warned that the lack of care for elderly people at home is a major contributor to the rise of delayed transfers in the NHS.
It said that the next step is to define a single social care offer across Greater Manchester, with a cost benefit analysis conducted by Metro Dynamics, reaching an agreement on the level of funding and appointing a director.
The targets of the project include reducing the demand on the urgent care system by 5% through a fundamental shift in homecare and residential and nursing home models, reducing unplanned admissions for individuals with long-term conditions by 30%, saving care spending by 10% and delivering community care for 25,000 mental health patients.
Other reforms will include developing a new market of care homes, more closely aligned with the NHS, a support network for carers, a new partnership to find jobs for adults with learning disabilities, and improvements to the assessment system for people in need.
Speaking at the Health+Care conference on Wednesday, Stephen Dorrell, the chair of the NHS Confederation, said Greater Manchester should be a role model for integrated public services.
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