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Hertsmere Commissioning Projects
Hertsmere Commissioning Projects
Community Collaborative Working Project
A CLINICALLY LED MODEL OF COLLABORATIVE WORKING – A PROJECT TO INTRODUCE NEW WAYS OF WORKING THAT PREVENT AVOIDABLE ADMISSION TO HOSPITAL.
This explains what the project, which is being run by Hertsmere Commissioning Ltd, The Red House Group and Hertfordshire Community Health Services on behalf of NHS Hertfordshire, aims to achieve and why we have asked you to become involved.
There will be further information available to different teams involved in various aspects of the project. In the first instance we want to tell you that the project is being planned. We are also asking anyone who will be affected by the project or who has an interest in it, to share their initial thoughts with us so that we can, for example, make sure that we design the project appropriately and measure things that are important to people.
Background
Hertsmere Commissioning Ltd and The Red House Group are two of five practice based commissioning consortia in West Hertfordshire. Together they commission health care for the Borough of Hertsmere which comprises a population of 96,000 people. Hertsmere sits within the NHS Hertfordshire boundaries, which in turn is within the East of England strategic health authority.
HCHS, The Redhouse Group and Hertsmere Commissioning Ltd (HCL) acknowledge that staff on the ground are working hard to deliver services, and this initiative is designed to strengthen collaboration to deliver improved patient care for the local population and to improve working lives.
Hertsmere, like other localities in Hertfordshire, is overspent on its acute health care budgets. Referral management processes are in place but these do not address unplanned care. Current avoidance of admission initiatives are disjointed, uncoordinated and are clearly not working as effectively as they should. New initiatives have been introduced in a piece-meal way, many of which are working in apparent isolation. Patients and staff are confused and there is both an element of duplication of provision as well some gaps in provision. In addition, Hertsmere has faced a number of challenges around the recruitment and retention of community nursing and allied health professional staff.
Project Aims
This project aims to address a range of existing challenges through the redesign of services to provide a clinically led, integrated model of care across five priority groups within the population. These are:
- People with long term conditions
- People with mental illness
- People in nursing and residential care homes
- People who have a high probability of entering the acute care system but not identified through PARR – ‘bubblers’
- Children.
The project links to a wider piece of work across Hertfordshire being undertaken within HCHS around integrated care teams. It will:
- Establish key performance indicators through dialogue with key stakeholders including HCHS staff, GPs and practice staff and patient groups via a start-up survey.
- Identify a range of benchmarking data for the five priority groups to support the evaluation of the project.
- Identify leads in each practice and in HCHS.
- Develop a project communication plan.
- Ensure that the project supports the achievement of cost improvement.
- ‘Spring clean’ caseloads and review acceptance criteria for caseloads in line with developing service level agreements.
- Develop protocols for integrated team working around the five priority groups.
- Implement new ways of working.
- Develop agreements with HCHS around support for staff.
- Identify processes for the collection and analysis of data.
- Report on the project outcomes in an agreed format.
- Make recommendations.
Next Steps
The project is planned in a series of stages. In stage 1 we will establish the principles of practice based operational responsibility for the deployment of community staff, led in each practice by a lead GP and the practice manager working with core community teams. The initial phase of the work will involve a robust review of case loads and criteria for caseload configuration. Service redesign will then be planned around five priority areas with the intention of preventing admission to hospital. If we identify that any aspect of the project is not going to deliver improvements we can stop that part of the project.
If our initial work shows that there will be real benefits for patients and staff we will move onto the implementation stages from 1 October onwards.
Between now and 1 October we will be setting the project up and we want to know what you think a good outcome for this project would look like. Please take a few minutes to complete the brief survey that accompanied this paper. You can also download the survey from www.hertsmerecommissioning.co.uk - you will find it on the home page in the box titled “Hertsmere Commissioning Projects” or from www.hertschs.nhs.uk.
If you do not want to take part we will understand.
Who should you contact if you require more information?
The project is being managed by a group comprising individuals from HCL, The Red House Group and HCHS. If you would like more information please contact in the first instance the project manager, Jayne Taylor, who will answer questions directly or refer them to the most appropriate member of the group. Jayne can be contacted by email jaynedtaylor@aol.com.
This brief survey is designed to ask as many people as possible who work or who are involved in health care in Hertsmere to tell us their views about the design of this project and particularly what success measures we should put in place. Download the Survey here or find it in our library.
THE CLOSING DATE FOR RESPONSES IS 31 AUGUST 2010
Mental Health Innovations Fund
HCL has secured funding from the Joint Commissioning Team to implement this project. HCL are be working closely with Carers in Herts, Herts Mind Network and other Hertsmere organisations to identify and support Carers, and provide access for patients to the wide range of courses and classes available locally.
HCL Practices have identified Carer Champions who will be working with Carers in Herts for the next few months as the project develops.
HCL patients are now able to access courses and classes run by Herts Mind Network, either via their GP or self-referral.
As the work of this project develops, it is hoped this part of the HCL website will act as a portal to allow quick and easy reference to local organisations supporting mental health and wellbeing.
Public Health
Current Public Health issues under discussion include:
- Smoking Cessation
- Obesity
- Diabetic Retinopathy