Background

The NHS is changing, with GPs and other clinicians taking control of local health budgets to put patient care and service quality at the heart of the NHS.

Demands on the NHS and other care services are growing and significant change is needed if we are serious about improving the health and wellbeing of Greater Manchester residents.

Hospital services were designed to meet the needs of the last century when patterns of illness and the care provided were very different.

We know from national best practice that pooling expertise and technologies into specialist centres helps patients get the best treatments and results from clinicians.

There are now more people with chronic illnesses who need long-term care. This care is often best provided in settings outside of hospital, yet the majority of hospital beds are used by people with long -term conditions because alternative services may not be available.

Advances in medical practice mean more highly specialist care is available that is saving lives and improving health. Yet, these services are not available equitably across Greater Manchester.

KEY FACTS:
  • Patients admitted to cardiology wards have 20% lower mortality rates compared to those admitted to general wards.
  • Most District Acute Stroke centres are failing to deliver key performance indicators. Centralisation of stroke services for 1/3 of patients is saving 250 lives a year in GM.
  • The number of emergency medical readmissions within two days of discharge has gradually increased over the last two years.
  • Emergency general surgery is carried out in 10 hospitals in Greater Manchester, but not always with consultant staff present and not always with routine admission to a critical care bed after surgery.
  • A quarter of all adults in England are obese. This significantly increases their chances of long-term conditions like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
  • The number of people diagnosed with diabetes is estimated to rise from 2.6 to 4 million by 2025.
  • If our health services stay the same, hospital workloads will rise by 50% over the next 30 years.
  • 550 lives a year in Greater Manchester (& Cheshire) could be saved if the UK meets the European average survival rates.

Our GPs want to make sure that everyone in Greater Manchester receives excellent, high quality treatment, no matter which hospital they go to.

We need to make difficult choices so we make the best use of available resources to achieve the best possible health outcomes.

What Is Healthier Together?

Healthier Together is a review of healthcare in Greater Manchester, looking at primary, community & hospital services and the impact on social care. The aim is to ensure that everyone has access toHigh Quality;Safe;Accessible; andSustainable services.

The 12 new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across Manchester are working together to look at what services they buy from our local hospitals and how they can change contracts to provide the right service, at the right time, in the right place to achieve the best outcomes, within the resources available.

What Will be Reviewed?

Healthier Together will consider what ‘best care’ for patients may look like in a range of services provided in district general hospitals, in the community and in primary care. Our focus areas are:

  • Urgent & Emergency Care
  • Cancer & Surgery
  • Long-Term Conditions

What might the changes involve?

There is still much work to do before new models of care are proposed. However, it is likely that new models will propose:

  • A shift to provide more services in primary care, the community and at home rather than in hospital, where appropriate.
  • A reconfiguration of Primary and Community Care to deliver more services that were previously hospital-based.
  • Hospital and other providers working together to improve access to specialist care.
  • Significant changes to the range and mix of services available at our hospitals.

Timing

The Greater Manchester team is just at the start of the process. To date, GPs from the shadow CCGs have worked together with clinicians from GM hospitals to identify what is the best possible care they could deliver to patients – what they would want for their own family.

Now, we want to hold initial discussions with local people to better understand local health needs and aspirations.

Local view will be used with healthcare statistics and clinicians’ views to agree a new model of care in Greater Manchester. The new model, along with a full explanation of implications and options, will then be taken out to formal public consultation in March 2013 before final decisions are taken.

Give us your views through our online survey:

For more information, contact: 0161 212 6338