Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge (BHR) is all set to transform the lives of our elderly residents by unprecedented collaboration of health service providers, the voluntary sector and our local authorities.
The current health and care climate of an ageing population, with increasingly complex health and social care needs, in addition to financial restraints creates a difficult challenge for the future of all our health and care services. This is compounded by the health and social care landscape perpetually changing, resulting in it being a constant struggle to keep up with the changing needs and opportunities amongst the local population. In these difficult times, we must also ensure that any changes or developments are accompanied by a sustainable improvement in the quality and experience of care for our older adults.
Transformation programme outline:
Since September 2018, BHR CCGs have been working together with the local service providers and our residents, to identify opportunities to transform the lives of our older adults, through supporting them in ageing well. Key work-streams have been developed to support these residents through all the stages of their lives, especially when they start to find things becoming more difficult. It is imperative that we not only recognise these increasing difficulties, but also have initiatives in place to take active steps towards slowing and reversing these health and care challenges more often associated with increasing frailty.
The seven key work-streams are:
I believe that our older adults should receive all the support they need to remain healthy and independent for as long as they can. They should get the right help, at the right time and in their preferred place of care. Frailty is a long-term condition that has the potential to have a significantly detrimental impact on the lives of our older adults. Proactive case findings and subsequent supportive management is key to this transformation. Our older adults will be able to have a say in how and where they are cared for with the help of individually tailored comprehensive care plans that reflect their health and care needs. Whilst aspects of their end of life care will also be documented and shared across all essential providers.
It has been a very exciting transformation journey, in the past few months. We have seen unprecedented collaboration and joint working between key stakeholders and service providers to shape the future of older adult services.
All the business cases are progressing rapidly, with two - Falls Prevention and End of Life Care - already approved by the CCGs and moving to begin implementation of these new models of care.
Look out for further updates in the coming weeks on the GP intranet.
Dr Uzma Haque
GP and clinical lead for the Older People & Frailty Transformation Programme
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