This is the 2019/20 edition of State of Care
During 2019/20, we saw a greater willingness among services to work together, and a shift in providers’ mindset from being competitive to being more collaborative – acknowledging the benefits and need to work with others to provide joined-up person-centred care and to ensure the specific needs of communities are met. This has been borne out in some of the provider collaboration reviews we did in the summer of 2020, to consider the impact of COVID-19 on services for people aged 65 and over
However, our inspectors and external stakeholders have highlighted the wide variation in collaborative working in all regions, and within local areas. This variation has been seen around the type, purpose, development and implementation of local system working. The differing levels of maturity of system working are due to a number of factors, including the role of commissioning bodies and the strength of working relationships, as well as local characteristics. This could mean the same initiatives – such as primary care networks – might work well in one area but not another. /p>
“Each local area’s very different and that’s what we pick up when we meet as a West Yorkshire and Harrogate group and when we meet as the Yorkshire and Humber group… our local health and care services are very different because of our local contexts.”
Healthwatch
The national drive for better local system working has been happening for several years and we have pointed to good and bad examples through local system reviews. Some places are better than others, but it is still sometimes difficult to see the impacts for people using services because many system-working initiatives are in their infancy.
The importance of involving people in health and social care planning and decision-making, including around innovation, was recognised.
“In Leeds we lead a group called The People’s Voices Group made up of engagement professionals from across health and care organisations. Together we make sure that people from communities or people with lived experience are at the centre of health and care decision-making, so I think we’ve got a lot of the really positive building blocks in place in Leeds.”
Healthwatch
We have heard examples of good community engagement, where the views and experiences of local people were gathered. However, these examples were not widespread. We have heard concerns from external stakeholders where services are not doing this, and that if people who use services are not involved in local system planning and evaluation, they may not engage with these new ways of working.
We have heard examples of good community engagement, where the views and experiences of local people were gathered. However, these examples were not widespread. We have heard concerns from external stakeholders that if people who use services are not involved in local system planning and evaluation, they may not engage with these new ways of working.
We have seen examples of local developments, partnerships and collaborations in all regions, both within-sector and cross-sector. Within-sector examples include acute trusts working together to solve capacity issues, through sharing services based on clinical need or sharing learning.
The Prosper project introduced prosper champions for care homes, who are trained in nutrition and hydration, falls avoidance and mobility. It pioneered Pimp my Zimmer and illuminous lights that come on at night time to show people the way to the toilet, and glow-in-the-dark toilet seats, those kinds of things that really reduce hospital admission.
Where cross-sector working was taking place, the sectors were working together to address local issues – for example, improving specific patient pathways or relieving pressure points in the system to make life easier for people. We have seen examples of systems to share data and medical records across providers and between sectors, which has increased understanding of performance and demand. However, a lack of access to NHS digital systems can prevent adult social care providers from working with other partners.
In addition, inspectors and external stakeholders reported that adult social care organisations are not always involved as system partners, and that smaller organisations or those with workforce issues can struggle to engage with wider system working.
Although inspectors and external stakeholders have seen large variation in the implementation and impact of primary care networks, they were seen as enabling primary care providers to work together to share resources and offer people better access to services – for example by offering extended opening hours and a wider range of appointments to meet people’s needs. They also provide a basis for working with other organisations, achieving better access to social prescribing, pharmacists, physiotherapy and paramedic support.
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This is the 2019/20 edition of State of Care.
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Contents
Quality of care before the pandemic
- Quality overall before the pandemic
- Care that is harder to plan for was of poorer quality
- Care services needed to do more to join up
- Adult social care remained very fragile
- Some of the poorest quality services were struggling to make any improvement
- There were significant gaps in access to good quality care
- Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
- Inequalities in care persisted
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic
- The impact on people
- The impact on health and social care staff
- Infection prevention and control
- The unequal impact of COVID-19
- The impact of COVID-19 on DoLS
- Innovation and the speed of change
Collaboration between providers
- How did care providers collaborate to keep people safe?
- System-wide governance and leadership
- Ensuring sufficient health and care skills where they were needed
- The impact of digital solutions and technology