Working together, the Leicester,
Leicestershire & Rutland (LLR) health and social care teams want to provide
integrated, high quality services, delivered in local community settings where
it is appropriate to do so, whilst improving the emergency and acute care
provided to the people of the area.
A programme of transformation, under the title ‘Better
care together’, is starting to take shape with a variety of projects already
started. This programme is central to the health partners plans, encompasses a
wide range of proposed changes and is the single most significant priority for
the local NHS over the next three years.
Why we need to change
The NHS, in all its forms, serves a population of just over
one million people across our area. The people of Leicester, Leicestershire and
Rutland (LLR) represent one of the most diverse populations in the country in
terms of age, education, ethnicity, wealth, health and health needs.
Three issues currently exist and need to be addressed:
- Some NHS health care is
currently organised in centralised hospital facilities, which is not always
convenient for patients
- In some groups of patients,
particularly older people, services can seem geared towards responding to a
crisis once it has occurred rather than helping to prevent and manage
conditions before an incident happens.
- It is not a cost effective way of delivering health care,
and is unsustainable in the long term.
When talking to patients and patient groups, we are often
asked , ‘Why do I always have to travel into the city or across the city to
have treatment or see a specialist?’
People question why, when there are community hospitals,
health centres and other health facilities around the city and across the
counties does everything seem to centre on the three city hospitals? With
developments in technology, why is it always necessary to deliver health care
face to face?
The number of older people in the population is rising and the
challenge of caring for them well is of national as well as local importance.
Looking to the future, patient’s increasing healthcare needs will place
significant pressure on NHS funding across the county and so the Better care
together
programme will transform and redesign local health
services, to provide, safe, high quality care , in suitable facilities, in a
way which recognises the needs of patients while being affordable in the long
term.
Visit the 'Better Care Together' website
