Plugging the gap between health and social care

A system of integrated care for every person in England is a major change that needs to happen. It means care and support built around the needs of the individual, their carers and their family - It is all about improving patient experience and achieving greater efficiency and value from health delivery systems.

Integrated care means:

·         Individuals only tell their story once

·         Professionals communicate with each other

·         A holistic approach to a person’s care

·         Inappropriate admissions to hospitals reduced and lengths of stay cut

·         Individuals do not ‘fall through the gaps’

·         Bringing together primary medical services and community health providers around the needs of individual patients

People are discharged from hospital, and still require medical attention – the communication between health and social care professionals is vital in ensuring patients needs are met. For integrated care to be successful, it means care workers expanding their skill set, to include things traditionally done by health workers (routine medical tasks - changing wound dressings), and health workers developing skills that would have previously been left to care workers (recreational therapies – rehabilitation, care home activities).

The Care Certificate sets out an identified set of standards that health and social care workers adhere to in their daily working life- giving everyone the confidence that workers have the same introductory skills, knowledge and behaviours to provide compassionate, safe and high quality care and support. Whilst this doesn’t encourage care workers to learn medical procedures, it meets somewhere in the middle to give a starting point of plugging the gap between health and social care, enabling both sets of workers to train from the first principles of care.

With the current crisis of the NHS, the shortage of nurses has forced hospitals to hire expensive agency staff – acknowledged by Monitor as the primary cause of the £842million deficit. Hospitals are under extreme pressure to deliver high quality care to patients. Integrating the care system means that admissions to hospitals are reduced and length of stays are cut – allowing social care workers to take on some of the tasks that would otherwise be carried out by nurses, in a hospital.

Figures show that 40% of people in a hospital bed have no medical reason to be there- a person with dementia staying on average 21 days, with a bed day cost of £500. An Alzheimer’s Society survey states that 61% of GPs report that a lack of co-operation between health and social care acts as a barrier to patients getting support.

The current divide between health and social care has a huge impact on the quality of life of service users, with the most vulnerable all too often falling through the gap where health care ends and social care begins. If social care faces more cuts, these vulnerable people will be admitted to hospitals – adding to the capacity problems.

Lord Warner said the health service should become a ‘membership scheme’, charging £10 per month, with people who need to stay in hospital paying extra. If the healthcare system does not change, do you think this is what will happen?

A possible way to stop this becoming the case is to cut training costs across the sector.

E-learning is an effective platform for carrying out the Care Certificate training, especially when a large dispersed workforce is involved. It can be carried out at a time, place and pace to suit the individual so as not to interfere with their day to day activities. With the current financial situation facing the NHS, cost efficiency is of utmost importance, alongside consistent high quality, making e-learning a preferred method of delivery.

Do you think that the Care Certificate could contribute to the health service being more cost effective in the future? Giving both sets of workers a basic understanding of providing quality care both in and out of hospitals, clinics, care homes and the like.