The Richmond Group welcomes NHS England’s declaration on person-centred care for long-term conditions, launched at the recent Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester.
The declaration outlines the importance of person-centred care for everyone at all stages of life and during all stages of the care journey. Encouragingly, it employs the National Voices definition of person-centred care: “I can plan my care with people who work together to understand me and my carer(s), allow me control, and bring together services to achieve the outcomes important to me.” This focus on the individual as decision-maker, along with the recognition of people as valuable members of their wider community, is consistent throughout the declaration and chimes with our aim of championing the cause of improved outcomes and better use of health and care resources through person-centred, high-quality care.
The declaration highlights that whole person care, particularly for people with complex, multiple conditions, requires flexibility and partnership working in order to deliver the most desirable and appropriate care throughout the journey. The key to this is collaborative care and support planning between professionals and people living with long-term health conditions.
The declaration resonates strongly with the Richmond Group’s five key themes which are:
- coordinated care;
- patient engagement in decisions about their care;
- supported self-management;
- prevention, early diagnosis and intervention;
- and emotional, psychological and practical support.
We welcome the declaration’s call for a wider, more holistic approach, and the recognition of care and support planning encompassing more than medicine - to include the development of social networks – and the role of community services and the third sector in realising these ambitions.
The Richmond Group’s ‘Doing the Right Thing’ project also grapples with the issue of how ensure better care for everyone by providing key actors and agencies within the health and social care system with relevant, evidence-based information about how the system could improve outcomes for individuals and increase productivity and efficiency by learning from voluntary and community sector interventions in the health and care system.
We look forward to working with NHS England and other partners in order to turn this aspirational document into tangible and implementable improvements for everyone with one or more long-term condition.