What a fantastic two days we've all had at the Health + Care Show; insightful seminars, innovative solutions and access to inspirational thought leaders and key service providers. It’s also been wonderful for new members of the CareShield team to see first-hand the huge need and corresponding impact that our training solutions are having on essential services within the industry.
Mark Lobban Director of Strategic Commissioning of Kent presented a concise strategy around the importance of ensuring evidence-based commissioning, as part of the plan for integrated care. Lobban argued that the three key steps to achieving this are: incentivised outcomes, integrated services (which he explained as ‘wrapping services around the individual’) and optimised care pathways. In other words, “integrated care is great”, he said, “but only if the individual services are working efficiently” (AKA correctly matched to the needs of the individual).
Lobban stressed that the starting point for mapping out the most effective care commissioning plan is to ensure that the right assessments are carried out in the first place. This, of course, requires Health and Social Care practitioners being able to access the best research when they need it. In a fast paced occupation, however, perhaps the challenge is no longer about gaining rapid access to information, but rather ensuring that the right information is accessed and used to perform best practice (Rita Newland, Nurse Adviser at Public Health England).
Quality care commissioning, evidence-based practice and achieving a truly integrated Health and Social Care System are all key to modernising and improving services, including those within the NHS. As Simon Stevens, CEO of the NHS has argued, faster uptake of digital technologies, greater innovation from new providers and more support for carers are an essential part of the emerging solution. Needless to say, it is exciting to know that we are satisfying each and every one of these criteria with the CareShield blended training solution. There is no doubt that these are exciting days for us.
