Home is where the healthcare is

We are witnessing an impressive shift across the NHS in England as many more localities start offering their patients the option to receive care at home, supported by technology to monitor them while they recover. This Hospital-at-Home model is also known as Virtual Wards and there are now 84 such services up and down the country, with over 80% of integrated care systems now having one in operation within their patch. The level of patient and carer satisfaction with this model is extremely high, and it also ensures bed capacity is used for those in real need of an inpatient bed, and as such is a key aspect in the recovery and reset of the NHS after the pandemic.?

Join the community : share more & get smarter faster

If you have a real interest in accelerating digital home care, you’d be warmly welcomed in the community known as the Innovation Collaborative for Digital Health. This is an online community of staff working across the NHS and social care who are advancing digital home care, or are keen to do so locally. It is open to all as a place where members generously share their work so that others can move faster. To join please email: [email protected].?

Next Event - Wed 29th June

The Innovation Collaborative also holds regular national events the next will be held on Wednesday 29 June 2022 from 10-4. It is free to attend and will be delivered virtually so that wherever you are in the country it will be simple to participate. The link to register is now available and is:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/innovation-collaborative-national-event-tickets-328996977817

Some highlights from our last event

To whet your appetite these are some reflections on the last one, held in February. The video of our reflections at the end of the day is posted below (and the link to the full recording can be seen in my earlier post - No Place like Home).?

Dr Tim Ferris, Director of Transformation at NHS England opened the event emphasising why these digital care models really matter for the future of the NHS. Tim described that long before Covid struck, NHS capacity was creaking & that hospital trusts would expect seasonal pressures each winter, delaying the ability to undertake major operations. The establishment of new digital care models that provide safe support in peoples’ own homes was not only much preferred by them, but would also be part of the way we would be able to provide care in a timely & effective way to all those needing NHS care in the future.?

A moral purpose

My new boss, Dr Vin Diwaker, Medical Director for Transformation then described the “moral purpose” behind ensuring those who could recover at home were able to do so, including through scale of hospital at home services or virtual wards. Vin described his own experience as a paediatrician supporting more children to receive care from home. He added that hospitals are great for acute care needs but the evidence on deconditioning, especially for older people was very stark, losing 10% muscle mass for every day in hospital, hence this work having such a strong moral purpose.?

Better care for those with long term conditions - 96 per cent felt more confident

We heard about the benefits of great tech in the management of long term conditions from Alison Shaw, respiratory clinical nurse specialist in Leicestershire where they are using Spirit Health products. Alison described a 67% reduction in emergency admissions relating to COPD through this work that helps support people in Leicester better live with this condition. A fantastic 96% people with COPD felt more confident, knowledgeable & motivated to make behavioural change & manage their condition having been part of the digital pulmonary rehab programme.?

Reflections

The final section of the day, chaired by Breid O’Brien who leads the Innovation Collaborative,? were some reflections from Hugh McCaughey, then the National Director of Improvement, and me. Hugh outlined the three transitions we are witnessing & that the innovations shared were brilliant examples of these - how we can shift from hospital to home; from more healthcare to better health and wellbeing; from operating in silos to learning health systems. He added that digital & improvement working together with frontline teams is a massive opportunity to achieve more for patients, and that we want to promote harvesting as well as innovation. We need teams, organisations & systems to be hungry to take innovations from elsewhere - to be harvesters - not just to innovate themselves - this is how we will scale at more rapid pace across the NHS.?

The link to the reflections session with Hugh is?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mubQTdI3Xvs

For more do check out the hashtag #NHSInnovCollab on Twitter and LinkedIn and follow @NHSTransform