Staff from the Coatbridge Living Well in the Community team at Coathill Hospital were delighted to win in the ‘Integrated Care Award’ category at this year’s Scottish Health Awards ceremony which took place at the Corn Exchange, Edinburgh on 4 November.
The team is a multi-professional cross-sector collaboration and includes supporting staff, community staff from rehabilitation, nursing, health visiting, mental health, Care at Home teams, Equals Advocacy (third sector advocacy organisation), frailty specialists (secondary care), information technology, pharmacy, primary care and Public Health Scotland.
The team was recognised for developing a preventative approach for community dwelling older adults at high risk of deterioration across three Lanarkshire GP practices. This has been done despite the work being paused at the start of the pandemic with an understandable focus largely on emergency work.
On winning, Dr Ana Talbot, consultant older people’s services, University Hospital Monklands, said: “This piece of work fell from a small group of like-minded professionals who had prevention at the heart of their work and realised the importance of the patient voice. In particular, we knew people wanted to spend as much time as possible in the homeliest setting and therefore, where possible, we wanted to support people to remain at home.
“This work links the strategic direction of travel in both social work and health, including the Carers Act, the new University Hospital Monklands, realistic medicine, the integration agenda, strategic commissioning plan, the GMS contract, improved links with primary care, acute and the third sector to name but a few. There is also very strong emerging evidence around the multiple benefits of a more preventative approach to meet the needs of this group of the population.
The overall aim of the approach is to improve outcomes and move away from crisis intervention as the only option. Despite the constraints from the pandemic, 62 older adults at high risk of deterioration have been identified and have had person-centred outcomes, including supported frailty self-assessments.
Liz Kearney, general manager, older people’s service, added: “Relationship building is crucial to the success of this work alongside the strength of the ‘patient’s voice’ being the loudest and the importance of acting on what matters to them – after all, they are the experts of their own life.
“It means a great deal to those who have been involved in this work since its inception and for the population of Lanarkshire that this work has been given the recognition of achieving a finalist place in the Scottish Health Awards.”
Watch the awards ceremony in full at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lYbT9rh1dU
Photograph (L-R) Lisa McHutchison, Equals Advocacy and Liz Kearney
