This collection of 'Tell us your story' case studies are examples of integrated care improvement projects – stories where unifying services has improved care for patients.
The Future Hospital Commission report advocated for ‘integrated care’ to be at the heart of the Future Hospital; that is for health and social care services to be joined up and unified. The FHP recognises that when health and social care work together effectively, it can be of enormous benefit to patients. For example, if general practice and secondary care effectively communicate through one IT system, a patient’s experience is ‘joined up’, and makes it easier for their care to be tailored around their needs.
Southampton locality-based model of care for elderly people: ensuring continuity of care
This case study from Dr Catherine Akerman at University Hospitals Southampton NHS Trust (UHS) describes how a new model of care for attending to elderly inpatients can reduce admission time, provide stronger continuity of care for the patient and improve communication.
Improving care home residents’ health through collaboration between geriatricians and GPs
Dr Katie Athorn, a consultant geriatrician for the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, describes how specialist geriatric support in care homes can improve the care of residents and support effective working between primary and secondary care clinicians.
Putting patients at the heart of an integrated diabetes service
Dr Parijat De introduces the DiCE model: an integrated diabetes service in Birmingham that works seamlessly across primary and secondary care. Initial findings exemplify the benefits of putting patients at the heart of service redesign.
Specialist geriatric service integrated into care homes
In this case study, Dr Philly O'Riodan focuses on the Integrated Community Ageing Team (ICAT), which was commissioned by Islington CCG to provide specialist support into care homes and a community geriatric service for the wider population.
Integrated respiratory services: hospitals without walls
This case study comes from Dr Irem Patel and describes how a multidisciplinary integrated respiratory team at King’s Health Partners is aiming to bring specialist care closer to the patient.
Integrated care: using IT to deliver, enable and measure
Here, Dr Mark Pugh describes how the Isle of Wight NHS Trust (IOW NHS) successfully implemented various IT systems to produce an integrated care record through collaboration with Ian Grove and his team at IGCS Limited.
Designing and implementing an acute hospital at home service
This Future Hospital Programme case study describes how a multidisciplinary team at Dorset Country Hospital that includes Dr James Richards and Patricia McCormack created an ‘Acute Hospital @ Home’ service.
Electronic patient records: bridging the gap between primary and secondary care
Dr John Stoves and Dr John Connolly outline how the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust uses electronic patient record sharing between primary and secondary care to support renal pathways and improve patient care.
Delivering a seamless HIV patient record over multiple sites and trusts
Dr Rebecca Thomson-Glover and Dr John Evans-Jones explain how Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust is working to improve care for patients with HIV. In their story, they describe why high-quality HIV patient records need to be maintained across both sexual health and HIV services.
Integrated respiratory action network for patients with COPD
Dr Helen Ward describes how a team from The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust established a respiratory action network for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
If you would like to Tell us your story, please contact the Future Hospital team: futurehospital@rcplondon.ac.uk