Headwaters Health Care Centre’s Post

This article says it's really important to make patients' experiences better in the NHS. Right now, people aren't happy with the service, and just making waiting times shorter or hiring more staff won't fix everything. They suggest that patients should be more involved in their care, and the NHS should listen to their feedback. The article gives some ideas, like changing how the NHS measures its performance and getting more feedback from patients. Overall, it's saying that improving patient experience is crucial for making healthcare better, especially when things are tough for services and staff. We have seen the benefits of involving patients in service improvement and how through engagement we can improve levels of experience. Another point I would make is that the annual national survey programme for Maternity, Inpatients, and Cancer services leaves little time between publication and action planning to make meaningful change - this needs reviewing - local surveys/feedback scores can be used to monitor progress against outcomes in the period between each survey should they become bi-annual, as with UEC and CYP. https://lnkd.in/dhgReUdv

Did you know....? 🎯Chaplains help patients and families align their core values with their healthcare goals 😀 Inpatients who receive spiritual support from chaplains reported higher levels of satisfaction with their care 💜 Access to a chaplain reduces hospital mortality Read more about how chaplains improve hospital outcomes and patient satisfaction at SpirituWell's recent blog - https://lnkd.in/g8vYhmcK #HCAHPS, #PatientExperience, #PatientOutcomes, #Palliativecare, #Healthcare, #VirtualCare, #Telehealth, #SpiritualCare, #Chaplain, #HealthEquity, #Hospice

Advance care planning (ACP) has been seen as a panacea to reduce unnecessary utilization, but a new study shows that to be effective, ACP must be done right. While ACP was shown to reduce the likelihood of pursuing futile care, this ACP had to go beyond filling out forms to becoming a process of communication. This communication should begin early in the illness journey and persist throughout, with patient preferences changing over time. All health care providers can be trained on how to have these powerful conversations. Done Right, Advance Care Planning Can Reduce High-Acuity Utilization - Hospice News https://okt.to/vhVsPw

I invite everyone with interest in LTC, palliative care and health system improvement to check out the result of our study, published yesterday. We explored the experiences of physicians and nurse practitioners who provided palliative and end-of-life care in LTC homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite their collective trauma and moral distress, clinicians expressed pride in their work and highlighted important strategies and innovations to improve palliative care in LTC homes. These strategies and lessons learned should be the focus of ongoing healthcare and policy reform. https://lnkd.in/gmAzD_tY

Lack of #hospital capacity is a huge financial and operational challenge for hospitals, but let’s not forget how traumatic it is for #patients, especially the most vulnerable. “The impact of long ER waits on seniors who are frail, with multiple medical issues, is especially serious. Confined to stretchers, gurneys or even hard chairs, often without dependable aid from nurses, they’re at risk of losing strength, forgoing essential medications and experiencing complications such as delirium” myLaurel™ wakes up everyday delivering acute and transitional care in the home for higher risk populations, especially the elderly and frail…. To avoid the above scenario and to help hospitals open capacity.

What is the evidence for quality and value in long-term care? Of all the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most tragic was shockingly high rates of preventable mortality among vulnerable older people in long-term care (LTC) settings – much of which could be attributed to inadequate quality and safety measures in LTC institutions. Brief 7 (https://lnkd.in/gfEizcWx) in the series on Financing health and social long-term care: lessons for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by the WHO Centre for Health Development (WHO Kobe Centre – WKC) presents evidence on promoting quality and value in long-term care to assist policy-making in low- and middle-income countries. Quality in LTC promotes equitable and person-centred care that respects individual care preferences and responds to multiple care needs, safety, quality of life and autonomy. “A fundamental prerequisite in delivering, monitoring and financing quality LTC services is building strong systems that set forth quality principles and standards across the broad range of LTC delivery settings,” says Dr Sarah Louise BARBER, WKC’s Director and author of the series. Strong quality assurance frameworks are necessary to deliver, monitor, and pay for quality long-term care. This includes accreditation and regulatory systems for institutions and community care providers, and enforcement of standards to ensure that older people are protected against harmful poor quality care. “Although collecting data about quality from all LTC providers in institutions and communities is challenging, it can support quality monitoring and guide improvements. The research indicates a shift in emphasis from measuring adverse outcomes to measuring well-being and quality of life,” said Dr Barber. And while some countries have linked higher payments to promote care quality, the evidence is unclear about the impact of paying to promote quality in health and LTC. Further research and evaluation are needed.   “We found that clinical trials that evaluate medical products and inform protocols and pathways for quality care management and referral in LTC commonly exclude the very people for which they are intended – older adults and those with multiple conditions,” she said. “Instead, person-centered quality of care should start with the formal participation of older adults in biomedical research, so that relevant clinical guidelines are developed and underpin payment mechanisms for quality,” concluded Dr Barber. Low- and middle-income countries can learn from the experiences and mistakes made in more developed settings and invest early in strong quality and regulatory systems for LTC, including measuring desired outcomes such as quality of life. Read more about this research on our website: https://lnkd.in/gYUmCkXX

Important study highlighting the experience of NPs and physicians providing palliative care in LTC during the COVID19 pandemic.

Achieving health equity requires addressing historical and current injustices, overcoming economic and social barriers, and eliminating preventable health disparities. In a new article, we explore what can be done to support cardiovascular professionals interested in helping with health equity issues, either in their community or on a larger scale. Plus, check out our new Health Equity Self-Assessment Tool, a 10-minute self-assessment designed to help healthcare professionals identify areas for improvement regarding health equity, and receive a list of recommended resources. Learn more here: #healthequity #selfassessment #nursing https://bit.ly/4eyFnWn

As an emergency physician, I've witnessed firsthand the strain recurrent ER visits place on our geriatric patients and their families. Often, these visits, which is filled with anxiety and logistic constrain, could be mitigated, if not entirely prevented, by robust integrated Primary and Home Care programs. It's not just the emotional toll; the late-stage interventions typically required result in significant healthcare costs due to inevitable admissions. The evidince is clear that a patient-centered approach to home and primary care can dramatically reduce ER visits and hospitalizations among elderly patients. The evidence is undeniable, showing up to a 25% reduction in unplanned hospital readmissions and a 16.4% decrease in hospitalization risks for our high-risk geriatric population. This isn't just data; our elder family deserve better. By adopting and advocating for comprehensive home-based care models, we're not only enhancing the quality of their live but also reducing the overall health care cost within the community. #GeriatricCare #PreventiveHealthcare #PatientCenteredCare #EmergencyMedicine #ValueBasedCare https://lnkd.in/dTSJZQqG

Are you concerned about patients not getting the critical care they need due to closed hospitals and departments? This is a growing problem in the US, especially in rural areas where some have to drive hours for care. Unfortunately, this issue isn't limited to rural areas and is also affecting underserved and poor payer mix communities. The impact of these closures means that patients may not receive the immediate care they need. https://lnkd.in/gcy22uYX