DoH proposes special care to cut inpatient admissions

6 Jan 05
A US-style model of care that aims to help asthma and arthritis sufferers stay out of hospital is to be rolled out across the health service this year.

07 January 2005

A US-style model of care that aims to help asthma and arthritis sufferers stay out of hospital is to be rolled out across the health service this year.

Local health and social care services will be expected to identify patients with chronic health problems and offer them intensive one-to-one support to help them manage their condition.

Department of Health guidance published on January 5 will support them in this work and help to meet a new Public Service Agreement target, which demands that emergency inpatient admissions be reduced by 5% by 2008.

Although the new NHS framework is influenced by models pioneered by US companies such as United Healthcare and Kaiser Permanente, Health Secretary John Reid said it was not a wholesale imitation of those systems.

'There's not some model we can transpose on to the NHS, which is not to say we can't learn from others and shape [overseas models] towards the British environment,' he said.

Reid stressed that he would not allow 'dogmatic objections' to prevent primary care trusts from working with other partners.

'Ultimately, PCTs themselves can decide how they want to do it and develop their own [models] if they want to, or work with the voluntary sector or Kaiser,' he said, adding that it was too early to say how many PCTs would choose to sign contracts with the private sector.

Senior nurses, to be dubbed 'community matrons', will be instrumental in delivering the new system. They will monitor their patients' health, prescribe medicines and co-ordinate extra care and support. Three thousand community matrons should be in place by the end of 2007.

PFjan2005

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