Person-centred care means the person is placed at the heart of their care. This ensures that the person has a choice in how they want their care and support delivered. By keeping the person fully informed they can contribute to their own safeguarding.
Person-centred care is especially important in care planning where it is now recognised as a key driver of the provision of high quality care.
Person-centred care’s benefits are:
- Flexibility: Individuals are free to tailor their care to their own needs instead of having a one-size-fits-all solution forced upon them.
- Responsibility: By giving individuals the responsibility to make their own care decisions, they become more empowered and engaged.
- Autonomy: Individuals who are responsible for their own health are more incentivised to make better lifestyle choices such as healthy eating and regular exercise.
- Independence: By enhancing the quality of individuals’ care they become less reliant on health services and more able to remain independent for longer.
- Happiness: Individuals who know they are receiving the most suitable care for their needs will be less anxious, more confident, and more happy.
In this article, we will define person-centred care, share examples of person-centred care in action and explain why it is important for health and social care.
Reflective practice in health and social care brings a wide range of benefits for health and social care professionals, patients, and their loved ones. With the approach often being embedded within training across many industries, reflective practice predominantly started in healthcare where the approach was heavily adopted across different industries with health and social care now at the forefront.
But, what exactly is reflective practice and why is reflective practice important in health and social care?
At the Access Group, we are aware many different approaches are being advised to help improve outcomes and care delivery. We understand that reflective practice goes further than talking or writing about your day, instead, it is about analytically evaluating your experiences to deliver better person-centred care in the future.
By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding of what reflective practice is in health and social care and how it may differ between the two, as well as how it works, why it is important, and how often reflective practice should be used.
Brokerage in social care and healthcare helps to navigate the complex landscape of health and social care services. The King’s Fund identifies that brokering is essential to the integrated healthcare system as a future model for the health and social care market.
The services brokered or procured across the health and social care market can differ depending on the sector such as care, aged care, healthcare, and social care.
But, what does brokerage mean within healthcare and social care and what benefits does it provide to individuals and the wider market?
At Access Adam Care Commissioning, we are dedicated to helping local authorities reach the increasing demand whilst still delivering the best quality care at a fraction of the price. We are committed to ensuring all local authorities make better use of the resources around them to facilitate seamless adaptation of support services to meet both your community’s health and social care needs now and in the future.
By the end of this article, you should fully understand what brokerage is in healthcare and social care, why it is important, and the benefits it offers individuals, care providers, care commissioners, health and social care professionals, and the wider community. This article will also review the challenges of brokerage in health and social care and what are the best ways to overcome this.
Medicines management or medicines optimisation is defined as ‘the clinical, cost-effective and safe use of medicines to ensure people get the maximum benefits from the medicines they need, while at the same time, minimising potential harm’ by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
Unfortunately, the frequency of medication errors in UK care homes has increased, which compromises the safety of residents across the UK and tarnishes the reputation of care homes.
Are you concerned about medicine errors and the associated risks in your care home? Perhaps you’ve recently had a near miss, or are anxious about when one might happen?
Social determinants of health (SDH) are non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. Numerous factors can affect people’s health and wellbeing. Currently, 1 in 5 GP appointments are for addressing social issues.
With the World Health Organisation identifying that social issues can be more crucial than lifestyle choices and can account for up to 55% of health outcomes, there has never been a more important time to improve the health and wellbeing of the individuals in your community.
The wider social determinants of health must be addressed to overcome the health inequalities and health inequities across different communities. But, what exactly are they, how do they affect people’s health, and most importantly how best can you overcome them?
Social prescribing offers an alternative non-clinical method to improve an individual’s health and wellbeing.
Patient data is personal medical information held by a healthcare provider. It is information about demographics (name, address, contact details), admin (appointments, waiting lists) and key medical details about any conditions, symptoms or treatments.
Data protection in healthcare is a hot topic as the demand for access to healthcare data grows. To achieve this, healthcare providers are typically using patient portals so that people can access their own information, but data sharing in healthcare carries inherent risk regarding access to this highly personal information.
Securing patient records is a little easier thanks to the healthcare data standards enshrined in law, but there’s still an onus on health and care organisations to provide further safeguards against attack, theft, or privacy breaches.
In this article we will explore why data security is so important in healthcare, the specific issues facing security and how to address them, as well as the costs of data security issues in healthcare and our recommendations for electronic patient records.
Getting organisations and services within the NHS to collaborate has been a goal for many years, but with the NHS Long Term Plan well underway, collaboration is now firmly in focus.
You may have already read our previous article about Collaborative Working in the NHS, which is the crux of the subject matter, but NHS Trusts in England are a big part of the execution of this collaboration.
In this article we’ll explore how NHS England is enacting this collaboration and what it entails, as well as looking at the FutureNHS collaboration platform and the role it is playing in encouraging communication and partnerships across the country. NHS Trusts will already be aware of the NHS collaboration goals, but we want you the reader to see this and to see our top tips for Trusts about how to foster these relationships and establish the correct communication channels. We want our readers to come away from this article thinking that they have a much better understanding of – and an appetite for – collaborative working, and that starts here.
Integrated Care Systems (ICS) were introduced to connect Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) and local authorities for a more seamless service to give better visibility to improve health and wellbeing for patients.
“Integrated care is about giving people the support they need, joined up across local councils, the NHS, and other partners. It removes traditional divisions between hospitals and family doctors, between physical and mental health, and between NHS and council services.” (NHS England).
In February 2022, the UK Government published its ‘Joining up care for people, places and populations’ whitepaper, which laid out new plans for the integration of health and social care in England and how ICSs can bring this together in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
Local authorities and NHS England are working closely together but there is still a long way to go due to further government reform, funding changes and internal goals and targets. This is affecting the speed and timing for when these changes can be implemented and has been further disrupted by the pandemic.
Digital solutions are becoming the backbone for businesses across the world and healthcare is no different. Technological innovation has digitally transformed healthcare commissioning, providing a range of cost-effective solutions accessible using cloud technology.
Not only has cloud-based commissioning disrupted the market, but also enabled NHS procurement teams to streamline processes, connect providers and patients, react quickly, and support the provision of consistent, high-quality care.
Discover why healthcare is turning to cloud services and what the full advantages of using cloud commissioning technology, like the Access adam healthcare solution, can do to transform procurement services.
Virtual wards are the future of healthcare, designed to allow for greater patient independence, a faster discharge, and to help avoid any health deterioration due to an extended stay on a hospital ward.
With modern medicine improving life expectancy, we're ourselves part of an ageing population; witnessing in real-time how science is combating issues like cancer, dementia, heart disease, and so much more. This means more demand for healthcare than ever.
Hospitals have a myriad of difficulties to overcome, but the virtual ward is now more than a concept. Case studies of NHS virtual wards have shown they help to relieve demand for hospital beds, reduce overcrowding, and improve the overall patient experience.
In this article we answer what is a virtual ward, what is a ward, and how a virtual hospital ward differs from the traditional approach. We also expand upon NHS virtual wards and virtual ward pathways; how do they fit into the existing care flow from diagnosis to treatment?