Care model toolkit launched

A toolkit that provides a model for providing sustainable single specialty services was launched at Moorfields Eye Hospital on Monday (3 April).

Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of 50 organisations and partnerships that have been selected as vanguards to develop new care models under the NHS Five Year Forward Review.

The Moorfields vanguard team, which is one of 13 acute care collaborations, has evaluated over the past year whether the sustainability of single specialty services can be strengthened through the formation of a networked care partnership.

Moorfields vanguard programme executive lead, Johanna Moss, told OT that the team drew on more than 20 years of experience delivering a single specialty service across multiple sites.

“We have also gained valuable insights by collaborating with other healthcare providers already using networked care to deliver services and with smaller district general hospitals that may face sustainability challenges,” she explained.

The team’s findings are included in the toolkit, which includes evidence-based information that other trusts can use to evaluate whether networked care could be beneficial for their smaller clinical services.

The toolkit incorporates recommendations on how to ensure a sustainable workforce and consistent quality of care at multiple sites. It also details methods of developing sustainable specialist care, maintaining effective partnerships and providing a standardised quality of care.

NHS England new models of care director, Samantha Jones, told OT that hospitals across the country were under increasing pressure.

“The Moorfields approach helps ensure that people in Bedfordshire and Kent get the same level of high quality care as people who live in London,” she emphasised.

“The Moorfields model has an important role to play in transforming the way health and care is delivered across the country, including the newly formed sustainability and transformation plans,” Ms Jones concluded.