Everyone understands that if you are very sick and need an operation hospitals are the place to be. However, there is good evidence that shows many procedures are best carried out closer to home. The financial pressures facing the NHS are unprecedented. Population growth, as well as increasing demand for health services, is creating an urgent requirement to think creatively about the way that the total planned care budget is spent to ensure that these pressures can be safely managed.
The scale of the financial pressures will require transformational change. In managing demand and growth there is an urgent need to review how we can achieve the best outcomes for patients. There will be an increasing emphasis on:
Self care
Early assessment and treatment
Closer clinical integration to deliver advice
Support and treatment in more homely settings
Milton Keynes’ Planned Care Programme Board is a senior multiagency group responsible for planning the delivery of safe, high quality services that make the most effective use of resources and provide equality of access to services for all users and patients. There is a wide range of projects currently underway and also in the planning phase. These can broadly be grouped into four category areas or key initiatives: