A public awareness campaign to showcase how integrated care is improving healthcare outcomes locally has been launched by Coventry and Warwickshire integrated care board (ICB).
‘The Future of Health and Care in Coventry and Warwickshire’ shines a spotlight on how real people are benefiting from health and care organisations joining forces.
Throughout the public awareness campaign, real patients are stepping forward to share their experiences about how the new integrated approach has helped them.
This includes Fiona’s story about receiving a quicker diagnosis and speedier access to treatment for colorectal cancer. Another is how Sam’s life changed thanks to a new integrated self-management approach to musculoskeletal care.
Both share their stories in YouTube videos.
Phil Johns, chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire ICB, said there had been great progress over the past two years to link up healthcare providers across the integrated care system (ICS).
‘For a long time health and care organisations have worked independently to one another despite all prioritising the same goal – to improve the health of their local communities.
‘By taking an integrated approach to healthcare, we’re putting the patients’ needs at the centre of everything we do which means that the care patients receive will be more coordinated and continuous, leading to better outcomes and experiences,’ he said.
Mr Johns said that new technologies had enabled the ICB to investigate health data so it could be proactive about supporting people at risk of becoming ill.
An example of this was a new programme introduced in Sowe Valley, which saw the development of a personalised and preventative model of care to support patients with Type 2 diabetes.
He added that the ICS was continuing to seek new ways to integrate as ‘we are not where we need to be yet’.
