Patients in 16 pilot sites will benefit from a trial to see how health and social care services can join together to increase quality of care, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw and Care Services Minister Phil Hope announced recently (01 April 2009).

The £4million scheme has been designed to look beyond traditional health and social care boundaries to explore how services for patients and service users can be improved. The scheme will then assess the benefits of different models of care and identify any best practice that could be used more widely.

Each site has developed new methods to help respond to particular local health needs. The health issues being tackled in each pilot include dementia, care for the elderly, substance misuse, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and end of life care. The methods involved vary widely; they include partnerships, new systems and care pathways that span primary, community, secondary and social care.

The sites are:
Bournemouth and Poole Teaching PCT
Cambridge Assura Limited Liability Partnership
Church View Medical Practice, Sunderland
NHS Cumbria
Durham Dales Integrated Care Organisation
Nene Commissioning Community Interest Company
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT
NHS Norfolk and Norfolk County Council
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
North Cornwall Practice-Based Commissioning Group
Principia - Partners in Health, Nottinghamshire
NHS Tameside and Glossop
Torbay Care Trust
Tower Hamlets PCT
Wakefield Integrated Substance Misuse Service

The pilots will run for two years. They will be evaluated over three years against a set of national and local measures, including impact on health outcomes, improved quality of care, service user satisfaction, and effective relationships and systems.

For more information view the DH press release

15:46:15 2009-04-20