JIP West Midlands e-bulletin

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

Dudley’s independence team shows early results

Dudley’s Living Independently Team has helped scores of people to maintain their independence since its formation.

Set up in November 2010, the multidisciplinary team consisting of social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nurses and short term assessment and reablement workers, has dealt with more than 376 referrals.

The team helps people stay independent in their own homes for longer. Help can include anything from installing telecare equipment to providing occupational therapy.

Of the people referred,139 regained their independence, with only 19 people needing to be referred for longer term care.

Contact Joanne Vaughan, telephone 01384 817599 01384 817599 email: joanne.vaughan@dudley.gov.uk

Acute support for dementia patients and carers

A fresh approach to caring for dementia patients and supporting their carers is being tested by Worcestershire’s Acute Hospital Trust Integrated Discharge Team, in a year-long pilot project.

Greater emphasis has been placed on involving carers at the admission and discharge stage to reduce the likelihood of readmission and ease the process of resettling patients back home.

Two non-clinical members of staff have been appointed to the team. Their role is to find out as much as possible about the needs of patients and carers at the point of admission. Appropriate information, advice and support is then be provided.

This includes details of support available in the wider community, as well as what to expect from the hospital process and what is available to carers when they are in hospital.

Links are also made with social work and health professionals, along with referrals to outside organisations offering support to carers.

Carers are given the opportunity to complete a booklet known as ’About Me’, providing a summary of the patient’s needs. Information about likes, dislikes and preferred methods of communication is included, plus any specific behaviour that staff need to aware off.

The booklet is held in the patient’s notes and a Forget me Knot flower sticker placed above their bed. This indicates to staff there is information they need to familiarise themselves with.

Although the pilot runs until March 2012, early indications show the quality of care for patients, and discharge procedures have already improved. Awareness is also growing among internal and external agencies of the range of support services needed.

University of Worcester is evaluating the pilot. The Trust plans to extend the service to the county’s community hospitals.

Contact: Rachel Fowler, Carers Unit Manager, telephone: 01905 728824, email: RFowler@worcestershire.gov.uk

Building a community workforce for the future

Moves to create a more diverse and flexible workforce that will deliver personalised services and care closer to home are underway in Herefordshire.

The council plans to co-ordinate a community workforce, by bringing together a range of partners and harnessing skills, resources and expertise that exist beyond traditional health and social care workforce boundaries.

Sectors already identified as contributing to workforce are personal assistants, carers, individual volunteers, universal services, the commercial sector, council staff, NHS employees, other public services, private individuals, as well as the private, independent and voluntary sector.

Next stage of the council’s plan is to:

· Map out the community workforce in the South Wye area to find out what exists where

· Engage with the community workforce to explore and understand how best to facilitate their contribution to the care close to home and personalisation agendas

· Deliver a range of learning and development opportunities across the neighbourhood to assist the workforce in maximising their contribution

· Devise a ‘lifestyle pathway’ tool for service users and carers that will help them identify their neighbourhood workforce and get support

· Evaluate to assess cost benefits with a view to further development, and how this approach might inform local commissioning.

Contact: Andrew Hasler, Workforce Development Lead, telephone: 01432 261816, email: AHasler@herefordshire.gov.uk

QIPP updates online

Updates on QIPP can be found on the Modernisation of health and care pages of the DH website.

Containing news, information and conversations, the site gives an overview of developments and guidance on how to make health and care services more efficient and effective.

Visit

Fast track to setting up a QIPP business case

Health and social care workers can acquire new skills needed to develop a QIPP business case and implementation plan, from September this year.

The JIP, NHS West Midlands and ADASS, have funded the Integrated Care Development Programme which will help individuals from GP commissioning, community health, adult and children’s services, to plan and deliver integrated health and social care services and to work together in multi-disciplinary teams. Emphasis is on improving results for service users and reducing costs.

The JIP is the strategic link between local authorities in the region. QIPP is one of the partnership’s priorities to be worked on over the next two years.

The 10 day fast track programme is designed to meet three objectives:

· efficiency savings released through the development of a high quality evidence-based business case

· increased staff competence in collaborative commissioning

· stronger partnerships across primary and community care in health and social care.

The programme runs from September 2011 at the University of Birmingham over a series of individual days, and ends in February 2012.

It is open to group applications from local teams of two to four participants who:

· are senior practitioners, clinicians or managers (social care or health), who is the lead person for QIPP

· have previous experience of designing new services, or developing a business case

· expect to remain in their current role until March 2012.

Teams must include at least one person from social care and one from health.

The programme will be delivered by the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham with Finnamore Ltd.

Deadline for submitting applications is July 15 2011.

Further details and the application form are available from Ann Thomas, telephone: 0121 414 7058, email: a.d.thomas@bham.ac.uk .

Putting QIPP at the heart of care

Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) is the new programme for improving quality and productivity across the NHS and social care, and for delivering £20 billion savings in the NHS by 2015.

It forms the basis on which health and local authorities will redesign services with the purpose of improving quality and efficiency.

This is prompting greater integration of services between health and social care. Savings made from adopting more efficient ways of working are earmarked for reinvestment in patient care.

A number of workstreams have been set up by the DH to support the new approach; some focus on commissioning care, others on the way staff are managed and organisations are run.

QIPP has been introduced in response to the need to make savings due to growing demands put on health and social care by an ageing population. Its aim is to ensure that each pound spent is used to bring maximum benefit and quality of care to patients.

Read more

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Resources

The National Autistic Society

The UK’s leading charity for people with autism (including Asperger's syndrome) offers information, support and a range of services.

It also campaigns for change in policies and public sector services.