Putting patients at the heart of the National Health Service, UK

Main Category: Mental Health
Article Date: 07 Jul 2004 - 17:00 PDT


National Health Service (NHS) Live goes live today

A pioneering programme to improve the quality of the NHS experience by developing tailor-made personal healthcare for patients is launched today.

NHS Live is a year-long national project that puts into practice the vision set out in The NHS Improvement Plan of a personalised health service for everyone.

It includes:

* hundreds of local projects around the country, each involving patients directly in finding new and exciting ways of redesigning services to meet their needs;

* joint learning opportunities between the NHS and the private sector;

* the Health and Social Care Awards, recognising and celebrating the achievements of NHS staff.

Some 349 NHS and Social Care organisations are taking part. Each is identifying local learning projects that will focus on ways of involving patients in designing services so that the users feel more satisfied. Examples include:

* I'm alright Jack: a project run by Maldon and South Chelmsford PCT to promote healthy living amongst men who make poor use of preventative services;

* The Virtual Healthy Living Centre: a project in Basildon using the latest IT to provide information so patients with chronic diseases can self-manage their conditions at home rather than be admitted to hospital;

* Piloting the house-keeper role in a hospital: a project run by South West Kent PCT to improve hospital cleanliness, food and the ward environment.

Each of the projects have also been offered the opportunity to work in partnership with a sponsor company. So far six sponsor partners are supporting the programme - Accenture, AstraZeneca, Boots plc, Fujitsu, Oracle and Pfizer UK.

Each sponsor partner will bring specialist knowledge, expertise and innovative ideas to the projects with which they are associated. These will include opportunities for job swaps and secondments, and the mutual exchange of best practice.

NHS Live begins with a flagship event at the ExCel conference centre in London's Docklands, culminating in the Health and Social Care Awards 2004.

The event, hosted by Carol Smillie, features:

* celebrity patients talking about their experience of the NHS, including Fame Academy's Carrie Grant, who has suffered from Crohn's Disease for over 20 years, and George Baker, best-known as Inspector Wexford, whose wife died of cancer;

* guest speakers including Frank Dick, the former trainer of the Great Britain athletics team, on teamwork and leadership; and Don Berwick, Professor of Healthcare Policy at Harvard University, on the patient's perspective of a perfect healthcare system

* a series of masterclasses on improving the patient experience, including David Colin-Thome, the Government's primary care 'tsar' on chronic disease management, and Louis Appleby, the mental health 'tsar' on exploring the stigma experienced by people with mental health problems.

Commenting on NHS Live, Health Secretary John Reid said:

"NHS Live is a groundswell of collective action that is putting the patient, the public and our staff at the heart of what we are doing in the NHS and Social Care. NHS Live is bringing together front-line staff and patients to focus energy and involvement on making a difference in our local communities. It will build on the momentum from The NHS Improvement Plan which I launched earlier this month.

I hope that the NHS Live event today will inspire the people who attend it to develop innovative ways of delivering high quality services to patients right across the country."

Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson added:

"This programme is all about utilising the know-how of NHS staff across the country, with the aim of putting patients at the heart of services.

"It's all about giving staff the opportunity to learn from each other about what works at local level."

The programme is being jointly funded by the Department of Health and sponsor partners. Attendance at the event is accredited for the purpose of continuous professional development.

1. NHS Live runs until June 2005. More information can be found at the NHS Live website.

2. Contracts with the sponsors have been drawn up according to Government guidelines on sponsorship, with advice from the National Audit Office.

3. Examples of some of the projects include:

I'm alright Jack
Contact: Melanie Crass
Organisation: Maldon and South Chelmsford PCT
Telephone: 01621 727300
Email: melanie.crass@maldon-pct.nhs.uk

Virtual Healthy Living Centre
Contact: Martin Cresswell
Telephone: 01268 707182
Organisation: Basildon PCT
Email: martin.cresswell@basildonpct.nhs.uk

Piloting Housekeeper Role in a Community Hospital
Contact: Chris Bell
Organisation: South West Kent PCT
Telephone: 01732 470305
Email: chris.bell@swkentpct.nhs.uk

4. The Health and Social Care Awards this year are in the following categories:

* Outstanding Achiever of the Year Awards
* Primary Care Professional
* Hospital Doctor
* Nurse or Midwife
* Allied Health Professional
* Manager
* Emergency Care Award
* Social Care Award
* Children's Care Award
* Queen Mother's Awards
* Intermediate Care of Older People
* Care of Older People
* Mental Health Award
* Chronic Disease Management Award
* Reducing Health Inequalities Award
* Health and Social Care Team Award
* NHS Live Award' for Patient Involvement

5. For further information, please contact the Department of Health press office on (UK) 020 7210 5221

UK Dept of Health

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