A joined-up care pathfinder for older people with long-term medical conditions has been extended by a pioneer area.
The Newquay Pathfinder will now be used in Penwith. Significant improvements have been reported to health and wellbeing, with fewer hospital admissions and less dependency on social care support for patients on the pathway.
Around 1,000 people living in the Penwith area of west Cornwall will not be given the same tailored care.
A joined-up care pathfinder for older people with long-term medical conditions has been extended by a pioneer area.
The Newquay Pathfinder will now be used in Penwith. Significant improvements have been reported to health and wellbeing, with fewer hospital admissions and less dependency on social care support for patients on the pathway.
Around 1,000 people living in the Penwith area of west Cornwall will not be given the same tailored care.
NHS Kernow’s managing director Joy Youart said: “I am really grateful to Age UK for working with us and their support to deliver the Pathfinder project to some of our most vulnerable people. The Newquay Pathfinder has been so successful because of the charity’s tireless support and ongoing partnership will allow us to help even more people.
“The simplicity of the Pathfinder is that it starts with a conversation; it’s about listening to the person’s story, identifying their individual needs and making services and support fit around the person to help them live the life they want to live. We are now able to wrap services around a person as soon as possible to ensure we are no longer reactively responding to their needs and helping them to manage their conditions in their own homes. “
The Pathfinder is designed to provide long-term sustainable support for people, by providing services such as falls prevention support, memory cafes, befriending and exercise groups to help reduce their dependency on social care support.
Tracey Roose from Age UK Cornwall said: “We are working together to remove the barriers between health, social care and the voluntary sector to improve the quality of life of people in Penwith and this funding will assist us to build capacity within our services and in the community. We delivered some great results together in Newquay and we want to build on that experience to involve more partners and more people in the west of Cornwall. We hope that if successful, this will become the main way of working across our community.”
The Pioneer partnership comprises of NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group; Cornwall Council; Council of the Isles of Scilly; Age UK; Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust; Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; Peninsula Community Health; South Western Ambulance Service; BT Cornwall; Peninsula Medical School; Healthwatch Cornwall; Healthwatch Isles of Scilly; Volunteer Cornwall; Cornwall Carer Services; Pentreath Limited.
This news follows the announcement on 1 November that the Department of Health awarded Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Pioneer status for its plans to join up health and social care services.
