Transforming Primary Care: Safe, Proactive, Personalised Care for Those Who Need it Most

Title of driver: Transforming Primary Care: Safe, Proactive, Personalised Care for Those Who Need it Most

Source: Department of Health and NHS England

Link to main document 

Publication format: PDF

Date of publication: April 2014

Summary of driver: 

‘Transforming Primary Care’ sets out plans to improve primary care services for older people and those with long-term conditions, providing personalised and pro-active care.

All people aged 75 and over will have a named GP, and services will be coordinated around the patient by improved communication with different teams e.g. A&E, care homes, mental health etc.

From September 2014, the Proactive Care Programme plans to offer 800,000 people with the most complex needs a personalised programme of care and support by their GP. Patients will also be supported to take control of their own care through technology. The Better Care Fund will support the integration of health and care services.

By 2020 an additional 10,000 primary and community health and care professionals will be in place to support the shift in care, and some of this be through return to practice programmes.

There will be better recognition of the role of carers, and the Care Bill will make it mandatory for local authorities to assess their needs for support.

There will be a revised training programme for GPs, to include an emphasis on working in teams, and care of older people. Post-graduate training for nurses working will older people will be developed, and Care Certificates will be introduced for health care assistants and social care support workers.

Key features of driver:

• More focus on out-of-hospital care
• Better integration of primary and community health services, acute care, mental health and social care
• Increased training and education to support the needs of the elderly and those with complex health needs

Primary audience: Commissioners, primary and community practitioners, Health Education England

Impact on library policy/practice: 

As staff move across traditional boundaries, there needs to be recognition of the need to fund libraries to support staff working in or across all the relevant organisations, including social care.

There could be impacts on funding from the acute sector if there is a major shift to primary and community care.

There may be opportunities to market ourselves as being able to support primary and community staff undergoing training to support older people and those with complex needs, and also to support healthcare assistants and support workers undertaking the Care Certificate.

If we are to increase the level of service we provide to staff working off-site, we may need to look at how these services are delivered, such as using the changes in copyright law to make requesting articles easier. We also to consider whether technology can help us deliver services remotely, for example using screen sharing software to provide assistance accessing online resources, or increasing the availability of ebooks that can be downloaded to mobile devices.

Date last updated: June 2014

Due for review: June 2015

Group member responsible: JC

NHS White Paper “Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS”

Title of driver: “Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS” White Paper

Source: Department of Health

Link to main document

The Department of Health Business Plan 2013-2015 (July 2013) outlines the structural reform priorities of the coalition government:

1. Create a patient-led NHS
2. Promote better healthcare outcomes
3. Revolutionise NHS accountability
4. Promote public health
5. Reform social care

Publication format: PDF

Date of publication: 12th July 2010

Summary of driver:
The NHS White Paper sets out the Government’s long-term vision for the future of the NHS. The vision builds on the core values and principles of the NHS – a comprehensive service, available to all, free at the point of use, based on need, not ability to pay. It sets out how we will: put patients at the heart of everything the NHS does; focus on continuously improving those things that really matter to patients – the outcome of their healthcare; and empower and liberate clinicians to innovate, with the freedom to focus on improving healthcare services.

Key features extracted from the Executive Summary:

• Putting patients and public first: We will put patients at the heart of the NHS, through an information revolution and greater choice and control
• Improving healthcare outcomes: To achieve our ambition for world-class healthcare outcomes, the service must be focused on outcomes and the quality standards that deliver them. The Government’s objectives are to reduce mortality and morbidity, increase safety, and improve patient experience and outcomes for all.
• Autonomy, accountability and democratic legitimacy: The Government’s reforms will empower professionals and providers, giving them more autonomy and, in return, making them more accountable for the results they achieve, accountable to patients through choice and accountable to the public at local level (GP Commissioning)
• Cutting bureaucracy and improving efficiency: The NHS will need to achieve unprecedented efficiency gains, with savings reinvested in front-line services, to meet the current financial challenge and the future costs of demographic and technological change . (Removal of PCTs and SHAs)

Primary audience: Everyone working in the NHS

Impact on library policy/practice: The White Paper provides a challenge to Libraries and librarians, as the changes in structure (e.g. removal of PCT/SHA and introduction of new stakeholder groups CCGs/CSUs) have a continuing impact on the way services are delivered.

Some ideas about how the driver could be linked to library services are summarised below:

• Focus on ‘information’ and ‘evidence’ Link here for discussion Lansley leads information revolution
• The White Paper mentions ‘evidence’ on the following pages 4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 49 and 55.
• “Information, combined with the right support, is the key to better care, better outcomes and reduced costs.” Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS. Department of Health, July 2010. 2.5 p.13.
• The white paper highlights the need for patient care quality standards to be based on the ‘best available evidence’ (p.23).

Case studies / Local service profile examples mapping to this driver: None @ 4.10.2013

Date last updated: 4.10.2013

Due for review: April 2014

Group member responsible: TP

Public Health White Paper

Title of driver: Healthy lives, healthy people: our strategy for public health in England

Source: Department of Health

Link to main document

Publication format: Pdf 

Date of publication: 30th Nov 2010

Summary of driver: This White Paper sets out the Government’s long-term vision for the future of public health in England. The aim is to create a ‘wellness’ service (Public Health England) and to strengthen both national and local leadership. Consultation closed on 27th July 2011.

Key features of driver: The following proposals are the key headings of this public health strategy:

• Seizing opportunities for better health
• A radical new approach
• Health & well-being through life
• A new public helath system with strong local and national leadership

The Strategy also outlines how they will make this happen.

Primary audience: Public Health Staff, key players in other partner department and organisations i.e. Local Authority.

Impact on library policy/practice: Some libraries are embedded within Public Health, a good example is Bolton Health Matters Informationist. There is no direct mention of library and information services in the white paper. ‘Knowledge’ and ‘evidence’ are referred to on the following pages:

Knowledge:
4.78
4.83

Evidence:
p 6, para 9, 10
p 8 12f
p23 – summary, 1st para
p 27 2.15 and 2.16
p 28 2.23 and 2.24
p32 3.6
p35 3.21
p49 3.65
p 51 – summary, last para
p 52 4.3
p 53 4.5
p 56 4.20
p 65 4.64
p67 4.76
p68-69 4.78 – 4.83 whole section
p 69 4.85
p 70-71 4.88
p 71 4.89
p 83 para 4

Case studies / Local service profile examples mapping to this driver: None as of 4/10/2013

Date last updated: 4/10/2013

Due for review: April 2014

Group member responsible: Not allocated (content added by Michael Cook)

Liberating the NHS: Developing the healthcare workforce from design to delivery

Source: Department of Health

Link to main document

Publication format: PDF via webpage

Policy published: 10th January 2012
Date of original publication: 20th December 2010

Summary of driver: This document builds on the government’s consultation on proposals to establish a new framework for developing the healthcare workforce in December 2010. The policy framework sets out a new approach to workforce planning and the education and training of the health and public health workforce. It builds on the responses to earlier public consultation and the advice of the NHS Future Forum. .The outcome of these changes will be a better education, training and workforce planning system for health and public health, one that is clearly focused on continually improving the health of the public and services for patients.

Key features of driver:

• The framework will enable the future health and public health workforce to develop and evolve
• The system puts employers and professionals in the driving seat enabling them to identify and anticipate future workforce challenges
• Health Education England (HEE) will provide national leadership and oversight on strategic planning and development of the health and public health workforce, and allocate education and training resources.
• Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs) will be the vehicle for providers and professionals to work with HEE to improve the quality of education and training outcomes so that they meet the needs of service providers, patients and the public.
• The Department of Health will set the the education and training outcomes for the system as a whole, and will hold the HEE to account.
• The funding flows are discussed on page 40 onward; outlining the scope of the budget; distribution of education and training funding; moving to a tariff based system; raising the budget through a levy on providers.

Primary audience: All NHS Trusts.

Impact on library policy/practice: Libraries a often closely embedded/aligned to training within NHS organisations. This policy links to development of new training programmes and funding of services.

Case studies / Local service profile examples mapping to this driver: None as of 4.10.2013

Date last updated: 4.10.2013 (Policy replaced consultation)

Due for review: 4.04.2014

Group member responsible: TP updated