29.01.14
Integrated care system planned for Liverpool
Liverpool has launched a radical new blueprint to restructure health and social care services in the city, tackling public health and poverty.
The Mayoral Health Commission concluded that duplication of services and unnecessary competition must be reduced, with more care delivered in the community. Personal responsibility for managing conditions must also be supported.
The report recommends key partners to sign up to create an integrated health and social care system, with GP, hospital, community, specialist, mental health and social care delivered in a unified out of hours service.
The health of younger and older people should be prioritised, with an emphasis on prevention and self-care. The city council, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Health and Wellbeing Board and NHS England will work together, with staff based locally through the development of a neighbourhood model built on the primary care structure.
Services should be restructured to improve quality of care, including centralising specialisms in one location. New qualifications will be developed for the NHS workforce, in partnership with education institutions, and a pupil ‘health champion’ will be designated in every secondary school.
A special panel will now monitor the implementation of the commission’s findings.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, the former president of the Royal College of Physicians, who chaired the commission, said: “I am delighted to be able to present this timely report, which comes at a pivotal moment when all public services are having to look at new ways of working due to budget pressures.
“I believe the document has the potential to deliver better health and wellbeing for the people of Liverpool for decades to come.
“It will require some new partnerships and a fresh start for some existing ones, which is always a challenge, but with the new Royal Liverpool Hospital and bio science campus on the way, I firmly believe this is a once in a generation chance to seize the moment.
“If the city can mobilise the enthusiasm that the Commission has experienced while compiling its evidence, I am confident it can bring about practical change.”
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “We have a fantastic health and social care system in Liverpool with outstanding staff who are doing an absolutely amazing job every single day of the year.
“We are facing severe pressures on our funding and that means we have simply got to redouble our efforts to do things differently. But the real driving force behind this report was to look at ways we could improve services and work in a seamless way.
“We need to focus on services rather than buildings, and more collaboratively where the driver is the care of patients, rather than who is responsible for delivering the care
“It also needs to be responsive to the local population, because the health needs of people in Anfield are not the same as those living in Woolton.
“Liverpool has always been best when it has been bold, and in health we introduced the first public health officer in the country, pioneered washhouses and more recently led the way on a smoking ban in workplaces.
“This is another bold plan which has the potential to transform health and social care in the city.”
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