There is national and international recognition of the need to integrate services outside of hospital in order to provide safe, effective and efficient care for the increasing number of people living with multiple long term conditions. 

It would be unthinkable for numerous providers, with largely unconnected specifications, separate management arrangements with different objectives and plans and with different contractual arrangements, to be working within a single hospital.  But health and social care services provided to the same communities, households and individuals outside of hospital are currently provided in this way. 

Partnership working

Sheffield has a history of strong social and health care provision and the organisations are relatively financially stable.  NHS secondary care services are provided by well-respected Foundation Trusts. 

The professionals within Sheffield are constantly implementing service improvements and great progress has been made – for example with the integration of teams providing discharge support from Sheffield Teaching Hospital’s wards. 

Partnership working across health and social care has been pursued for many years and the City Council and Clinical Commissioning Group are committed to joint working as exemplified by their approach to the Better Care Fund.

However, it is clear that the challenge facing health and social care is greater than ever before. 

Commissioners believe that it is only by being ambitious and taking radical action, while the system is relatively strong, that the quality and financially sustainability of the services we provide can be maintained.

To better provide health and social care outside of hospital we must address the challenges faced across the entire system in a coordinated way rather than dealing with different aspects of the system separately.  

Care Outside of Hospital

The Care Outside of Hospital Strategy sets out the key challenges faced across the system and describes a model for future delivery of services which begins with the patient rather than the extant organisations. 

It forms an overarching strategy for the transformation of care outside of hospital that will be supported through the strategies that cover Primary Care, Urgent Care and Active Support and Recovery. 

Media information about the launch of our Care Outside of Hospital Strategy can be found here.

Our Care Outside of Hospital, Urgent Care and Primary Care Strategies can be found here.

 

Additional Information

• Urgent Care
• Active Support and Recovery