An example of our partnership work with the local NHS in NW London, is the evaluation of the Integrated Care Pilot (ICP) is a program designed to improve the coordination of care for people with diabetes and people over 75 years in Inner North West London. The aims of this pilot are to:

  • Improve outcomes for patients;
  • Create access to better, more integrated care outside of hospital;
  • Reduce unnecessary hospital admissions; and
  • Enable effective working of professionals across provider boundaries.

The pilot has been undertaken within a context of growing financial constraints in the NHS and it hopes to deliver financial savings through reduced duplication of care and hospital utilisation. The key components of the pilot include:

  • patient risk stratification (specifically, risk of unplanned hospitalisation),
  • proactive care planning
  • proactive case management by newly developed multidisciplinary groups,
  • improved sharing of medical information on between service providers using an
  • innovative information technology tool

Imperial College London, working in collaboration with the Nuffield Trust, is undertaking an evaluation of the North West London Integrated Care Pilot. The evaluation included three streams combining quantitative and qualitative methods:

  1. Understanding the pilot's position within the broader integrated care agenda: A qualitative analysis looking at the strategic nature of the pilot, including the type of integration produced, analysis within the national policy context and understanding the higher level decision-making processes involved.
  2. Service utilisation and costs: Measuring service usage patterns in relation to secondary and social care, using a propensity-matched case control model, allowing cost changes to be understood.
  3. Clinical outcomes and quality of care: Using a mixture of clinical process and outcome measures to observe service quality, both in primary and secondary care. Patient and professional experience: A mixed methods approach to capture both professional and patient experiences of the integrated care process.

Publications

Harris M, Greaves F, Patterson S, Jones J, Pappas Y, Majeed A, Car J. The North West London Integrated Care Pilot: innovative strategies to improve care coordination for older adults and people with diabetes. J Ambul Care Manage. 2012 Jul-Sep;35(3):216-25.