Department of Health
New care models – vanguard sites
In January the NHS invited individual organisations and partnerships, including those with the voluntary sector, to apply to become ‘vanguard’ sites for the New Care Models Programme, one of the first steps towards delivering the Five Year Forward View (http://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/futurenhs/) and supporting improvement and integration of services.
More than 260 individual organisations and health and social care partnerships expressed an interest in developing a model in one of the areas of care, with the aim of transforming how care is delivered locally.
On 10 March, the first wave of 29 vanguard sites were chosen. This followed a rigorous process, involving workshops and the engagement of key partners and patient representative groups. Each vanguard site will take a lead on the development new care models which will act as the blue prints for the NHS moving forward and the inspiration to the rest of the health and care system.
What this means for patients
Through the New Care Models programme, complete redesign of whole health and care systems are being considered. This could mean fewer trips to hospitals with cancer and dementia specialists holding clinics in local surgeries, having one point of call for family doctors, community nurses, social and mental health services, or access to blood tests, dialysis or even chemotherapy closer to home.
Support for the Vanguards
From March 2015, the national NHS and the New Care Models team will work with local vanguard sites to develop dedicated support packages, and help in overcoming barriers and building capability to enable and accelerate change in ways that can be replicated elsewhere. The programme will be backed by a £200 million Transformation Fund.
All areas will benefit from a wider support and learning package which will have national input across a number of bodies such as NHS England, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority. After a period of co-development with vanguard systems, the programme will be rolled out later this year, based on learning from, and in coordination with, other change programmes taking place in the NHS. Support will be tailored to the needs of each area, and will include a combination of peer learning and expertise in areas such as patient empowerment and community engagement, clinical workforce redesign, using digital technology to redesign care, devising new legal forms and new contractual models; and joined up procurement.
Further information
You find out more about the programme by looking at the frequently asked questions page: (http://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/futurenhs/5yfv-ch3/new-care-models/faqs) .
More evening and weekend appointments from GPs
An extra £550 million funding for NHS will improve access to GPs, modernise GP surgeries and improve out-of-hospital care.
For patients, this will mean:
- 18 million people will, by March next year, be offered more evening and weekend, video, email and telephone consultations, the equivalent of 8,000 more appointments a day
- over 8.5 million people will see redevelopment of their existing practices, to increase clinical space and offer additional services
- greater access to pharmacists, nurses and speech therapists from local GP surgeries
- more personalised advice from pharmacists who will be able to access medical records
- more tests, treatments and services offered closer to people’s homes, including minor operations and blood tests
The funding will come from:
- £100 million addition to the existing £50 million Prime Minister’s Challenge fund
- £250 million infrastructure fund for new buildings, treatment rooms and IT
- £200 million transformation fund for 29 pilots to integrate services offered by hospitals, GPs, and care homes
The health and care system explained
This article gives an excellent overview (with pictures!), of how it all works…
How many minions does it take to run the NHS and its associated organisations?
Take a look at this table – some interesting stats (CQC for example…)