23.09.14
RCP names Future Hospital Development Sites
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is to partner with four NHS trusts across England and Wales, which will become ‘Future Hospital Development Sites’.
Following on from the RCP’s Future Hospital report published in 2013, the programme aims to implement the College’s vision of improving the care of medical patients by bringing medical specialist care closer to the patient wherever they are, in hospital or in the community.
The RCP received 20 applications from NHS trusts to become development sites, but this was whittled down to four: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals, Royal Blackburn Hospital, and Worthing Hospital.
The work of the four 2014 sites, which will actually start in the new year, comprises the first phase of the Future Hospital Programme, which is committed to making the RCP Future Hospital vision a clinical reality for patients and physicians.
For example, three of the projects aim specifically to improve the care of frail older patients, and the fourth aims to streamline the care of patients admitted via acute medical admissions services, including frail older patients, by amalgamating several assessment and admission pathways on a single emergency floor of the hospital.
Dr Anita Donley, chair of the Future Hospital project board and RCP clinical vice-president, said: “We promised that the Future Hospital report wouldn’t languish on a shelf, and we are keeping that promise with our Future Hospital Programme of health improvement initiatives.
“I’m delighted to welcome the first four development sites to the Programme – together we’re harnessing the enthusiasm and willingness of NHS trusts to innovate where it matters – in improving direct patient care.”
The RCP will support the development sites by helping them implement new ways of working, providing access to quality improvement expertise, and assistance in evaluating their individual programmes of work. The lessons learned by the Future Hospital Programme team and each development site will be collated and shared with other partners in the programme and beyond to spread good practice and foster system-wide improvement in the care of medical patients.
At Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Dr Olwen Williams will lead a team aiming to improve access to care for frail older patients in rural Wales. The objective is to enhance the response to healthcare needs, including end of life care, by bringing access to specialist care within easy reach of those living at considerable distance from hospital, principally through the use of telemedicine.
Dr Dinesh Nagi and colleagues at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals will aim to develop an older people’s assessment service as a part of an acute care hub, with a particular focus on frail older patients with fragility syndrome.
In the Royal Blackburn Hospital, Dr John Dean and colleagues will deliver better quality and more effective services for frail older patients using integrated community teams working in partnership with primary, community, social and mental health care services.
Finally, at Worthing Hospital, Dr Roger Duckitt and colleagues will aim to standardise pathways, streamline care and achieve safe, efficient clinical management for all patients.
Welcoming the announcement, Matthew Winn, chair of the NHS Confederation's Community Health Services Forum, stated that patients and their families often say they want to stay in their own homes for as long as possible, and get care in their community when they need it, so it is absolutely right that the RCP’s Future Hospitals programme will focus on improving how frail older people are supported.
“Getting the right care at the right time, in the right place, for frail older people requires focus and investment in community-based care, not further reliance on hospital buildings,” he said. “My hope is that this phase of the Future Hospitals programme will help demonstrate the value that community health services can contribute to the health service of the future. What is equally important, however, is that we ensure the full range of services that support frail older people are joined up, including local government services and other parts of the NHS.”
Dr Adam Gordon, honorary secretary of the British Geriatrics Society, added that a challenge for the implementation of the Future Hospital recommendations going forward will be ensuring that other hospital specialists interface with and support these types of services.
“All physicians need to recognise the importance of supporting the acute medical take if we are to make the strides forward in quality which the report envisaged,” he noted.
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