Strategy and Redesign
The Strategy and Redesign Directorate at NHS Birmingham East and North aims to ensure that the services commissioned by the trust:
- deliver the highest level of patient care
- meet the needs of the local population
- follow national policy, best practice and guidance.
The Directorate does this through a clinically-driven review of each service. From this, a strategy for service development is agreed.
These strategies aim to provide the most effective and efficient care models for patients.
The trust works closely with partners in secondary care, community and charitable settings to develop innovative, patient focussed approaches to the delivery of health services to local people.
Key service delivery areas
- End of Life Care
- Long Term Conditions
- Emergency and Unplanned Care
- Planned Care
- Children’s and Maternity Services
- Cancer
- Sexual Health
- Mental Health
- Complex Care
- Elderly Care
- Long Term Conditions
Examples of redesign work
Integrated Musculoskeletal Service
A new consultant-led knee service has been designed and introduced for patients with knee problems in response to increased referrals for orthopaedic outpatient appointments and long waits for physiotherapy services.
The service has a single referral route and enables patients to be quickly assessed and referred into one of four clinics, appropriate to their needs. These are:
- Consultant-only clinic – for patients requiring an immediate surgical opinion
- A consultant and extended-scope practitioner (physiotherapist with additional specialist training to assess knee joints) clinic – for patients requiring diagnostic assessment prior to possible surgical listing
- Extended-scope practitioner-only clinic – for non-surgical patients or patients requiring further assessments, MRI scan and injections
- Community physiotherapy clinic – for patients requiring intensive physiotherapy.
Healthy Incentives
There is a consensus that healthy individual behaviours are a vital took in achieving good, cost-effective health outcomes.
NHS Birmingham East and North and the Young Foundation (a leading national social innovation centre) have entered into a unique partnership to develop a reward scheme to encourage healthy behaviour.
Health behaviour includes a range of activities such as healthy eating, exercise, regular screening and smoking cessation.
The first scheme targets pregnant women, who can sign up for the scheme to help them stop smoking. The women will be rewarded with shopping vouchers once they decide to stop smoking.
Intermediate Care
Intermediate care is a service that aims to provide integrated services to promote faster recovery from illness, prevent unnecessary acute hospital admissions, support timely discharge from hospital and promote independent living.
In 2008, the trust relocated its intermediate care beds into two new purpose-built care centres. In addition, a new, third community rehabilitation team was set up to provide additional support to patients in their own homes and day care opportunities were introduced at the new care centres.
This has provided greater choice in the types of care available to patients. In addition, the greater capacity has resulted in fewer delays in discharge from hospital.
