Downe to be health blueprint

Downe to be health blueprint

14 December 2011 - by DAVID TELFORD

THE model of care provided at the Downe Hospital’s emergency department has been held up as an example for others in a major new report on the future of health services across Northern Ireland.

A 213-page document unveiled yesterday morning is being billed as the blueprint for the future of health and social services.

It details a total of 99 recommendations to improve how care is delivered over the next five years when the number of acute hospitals in Northern Ireland is expected to be slashed in half.

The Downe is not regarded as an acute hospital and health administrators say the review makes no major changes for the role it plays.

The emergency department at the Downpatrick hospital is staffed by consultants and GPs and the urgent care network they operate is highlighted in the health service review as one of good practice.

The review says in future, GP out-of-hours services should work as an integrated model of care with other urgent care services and says a good local example of this working in practice is in evidence at the Downe.

Among the review’s 99 recommendations are taking services out of hospitals and placing them in GP surgeries. The authors of the report say there will be a “significant shift” from provision of services in hospitals to the community, in the GP surgery and closer to home, where it is safe and effective to do this.

And local commissioning groups will also be tasked with working with heath trusts to come up with a delivery plan for hospital services in their respective areas.

The chairman of the review panel, Mr. John Compton, said its overriding desire was to describe and build a system of health and social care which would place the individual, family and community that use it at the heart of how things are done.

He explained the in-depth review is about change planned over the next five years which is designed to deliver better outcomes that individuals can reasonably expect in a modern system of care and treatment.

Mr. Compton said the wide-ranging proposals, deal with quality and outcomes as the determining factors in shaping services. He pointed to the need for patients to be better informed and to have choice and control over their care, particularly in their later years.

The review also proposes changes to services for children and those with a disability or mental health difficulties and recommends, over time, fewer major hospitals providing acute services and a much greater role for GP’s.

 “These proposals set out a road map to take the changes in the service forward and take account of the significant issues around workforce planning and the development of skills and capacities among our healthcare professionals and the enhancements in our technology provision.”