People first, manage what matters…

People first, manage what matters…

In 2018, the national Better Care Support Programme - a partnership between the Department of Health and Social Care, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, NHS England and the Local Government Association commissioned a national follow up to ‘Why not home? Why not today?’. It was undertaken by Newton, in collaboration with local improvement teams, and explores and builds on the findings and recommendations from ‘Why not home? Why not today?’.

This report describes a programme of work designed to examine the journeys taken by people through 14 health and social care systems across the country. The aim was to help these systems to improve patient flow, reduce the numbers of delayed transfers of care on the basis of a detailed analysis, and to identify appropriate practical action to address the challenges.

Why read this report

It is crucial for the wellbeing of people in hospital as well as for the safety of others needing urgent acute care that the flow of people through health and social care systems is as efficient as possible.

The recommendations from Newton’s work are shared here to help inform the thinking and decision-making that other health and social care systems may be embarking upon. These cover practical examples of both what works and how to overcome common challenges.

Findings from this work indicate that every system might benefit from focusing on reducing discharge delays. Not only will this improve outcomes for elderly people, it will also reduce the cost of care across the system. It is therefore hoped that any practitioner or system leader charged with the task of providing services with the right level of care, in the right setting, at the right time, will find this report helpful.