Collaborative Healthcare guide launched

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Inclusive Change, the national partnership set up to help people "live good lives in good places" alongside TLAP and other partners, have launched a report, Collaborative Healthcare, showing how small-scale community projects are already delivering major health benefits and savings in communities across the UK.

Alex Fox, of TLAP partner Shared Lives Plus said, "Last month in his Comprehensive Spending Review, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a £10bn funding package for the NHS. We believe that the NHS now needs to invest in innovations which have often been developed by social and community care organisations, but which also have huge potential as new approaches to healthcare. Often these models involve health professionals letting families and communities take the lead, with the professionals providing their expert input and back up when it's needed".

One example of how small scale local intervention is already delivering dramatic health improvements is the Derby based "Local Area Coordinators" (LAC) projects.

Local Area Co-ordinators work autonomously, getting to know people at risk of requiring formal services and helping them connect with their communities and the full range of formal and informal sources of support.

By working together they were able to focus on an individual's main priorities, in the case of one resident; to get out of his flat, make some friends, and help other people and to feel safe, secure and more confident.

An evaluation by Derby City showed this approach saved or avoided costs of £800k.

Ralph Broad of Inclusive Neighbourhoods said: "Local Area Coordination and the other examples contained in this report show how communities are key to people with developing healthcare needs can stay strong, connected to others and resilient, which in turn reduces the demand for expensive medical care."

The report also calls on CCGs (Clinical Commissioning Groups) to promote the involvement of patients and carers in decisions about their care or treatment through developing the controversial personal health budgets initiative alongside an equal focus on building new community-based interventions and a new health and care workforce.

Sian Lockwood OBE of Community Catalysts said: "The NHS needs to move to making sure that choice in care isn't simply about individuals having control of budgets - it is about having new options available too. Decisions need to involve individuals, families and communities - with a greater focus on collective strengths and capacity rather than simply focusing on needs. The examples in this report are a clear indication of how many health interventions can be delivered in a way which results in individuals and their families being better informed, more connected to those around them, and more resilient. When this happens results are often better, and savings achieved too."