Personalised care: playing a vital role in COVID-19 recovery
I am delighted to welcome you back to our regular Personalised Care bulletin which we paused at the end of March. We have a bumper issue for you with all the latest news from NHS Personalised Care. But firstly I wanted to convey how immensely impressed I am by you all for continuing to prioritise personalised care and support as part of the enormous task of responding to the COVID-19 crisis over recent months. Personalised care and support has become even more vital in this new world that we find ourselves living in, and it remains central to the care we provide. It is only with personalised care that we can be sure of supporting everyone across the country, that we can be confident we are responding to individuals’ needs, and that we are able to reach out and connect with
local communities and people, regardless of background or circumstance.
I’ve also been struck by the way our work can play a pivotal role in responding effectively to some of the structural and societal inequalities that we see, and which have been highlighted in recent weeks through movements such as Black Lives Matter. Universal Personalised Care set out our commitment to tackling health inequalities and we are more committed than ever to playing our part in breaking down these barriers through the provision of effective and appropriate personalised care. COVID-19 has also meant huge changes to everyone’s lives, as well as fundamental changes to delivery of health and social care. As such we are in the process of reshaping our portfolio of work to reflect what we have learned over the last few months. In particular, we are focusing on the unprecedented shift towards digitally-enabled frontline services. People now benefit from online video appointments, at-home self-monitoring technology and data sharing between key services. Our workforce has demonstrated how it can work remotely, more flexibly and more closely together. We now need to ensure that the experience of people remains front and centre of this revolution, as too often technology has had the unintended consequence of disempowering patients, widening inequalities or simply getting in the way of good care, especially for those most vulnerable. In this edition, we hear recent highlights from across Personalised Care, including the latest support and resources available to you. Sherone Phillips, carer and member of the national Palliative and End of Life
Care Team, provides some insight into the great work the team has been doing over the past few busy months and we also take a brief look back at 'What matters to you?’ Day 2020, as well as provide you with the latest round up of evidence related to personalised care Happy reading! James Sanderson, Director, NHS Personalised Care @JamesCSanderson
New personalised care training hub going live in SeptemberThe Personalised Care Institute is a new central learning hub where learners will be able to access a variety of ‘quality assured’ eLearning and face-to-face personalised care training programmes. Key to this will be to provide a consistent and coherent approach and the Institute will be offering training in core skills for personalised care, personalised care and support planning, shared decision making and beyond. The Personalised Care Institute aims to equip health and care staff with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to work
differently; have better conversations and explore the wider determinants of health and care. It will be formally launched in September and for more details and how to apply, please see this animation or email info@personalisedcareinstitute.org.uk.
Helpful personalised wellbeing plan now availableWe’ve worked with the National Academy of Social Prescribing and other partners to produce a Personalised Wellbeing Plan template, which can be used by anyone to summarise their personal circumstances and the things that matter most to them.
We want to reduce the number of times people need to tell or repeat their story to someone new. It is a helpful way of having easy, readable information that can be shared with family, friends and neighbours or any services who may be involved with their care, especially during this pandemic period. We hope this plan will give people more control and help them to get the support they need, in the way they need it, especially during these difficult times.
What matters to you? Day 2020 Tuesday 9 June 2020 was this year’s ‘What matters to you?’ day. Celebrated globally, this day reminds us all to ask the people that we care for and support this simple question, to help ensure people receive personalised care. The enthusiasm for the ‘what matters to you’ agenda continues to thrive in the twitter sphere and has increased rather than decreased, despite the current climate of the pandemic. Many colleagues across the
country got involved online to share how they’re committed to asking ’what matters to you?’ and to celebrate the work being done to ensure it is at the heart of all you do. To catch up with what others were sharing on the day, search #WMTY20 and #PersonalisedCare on Twitter, or visit @Pers_care.
Leading thinkers and charities give public support for personalised careThe current pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for everyone, regardless of background or circumstance, to have the opportunity for their needs, wishes and preferences to be considered. This is a fundamental component of Personalised Care and has been recently highlighted as especially important for End of Life care. As part of an ongoing programme of work, NHS England and NHS Improvement came together with a range of leading thinkers from the disabled rights movement, voluntary sector organisations, and
specialist clinical directors to demonstrate collective public support for maintaining and championing personalised approaches for care and treatment for all patients, including those experiencing End of Life care. This meeting was co-chaired by Baroness Jane Campbell and James Sanderson, Director of Personalised Care for the NHS, who have issued this summary statement in May 2020. The group will meet later this month to discuss actions already taken and agree how to progress further over the coming months.
What matters now for personalised
dementia care? The Dementia Change Action Network (DCAN) has launched a series of virtual forums called “what matters now for personalised dementia care?” This joint initiative brings together people to redefine dementia using the principles of personalised care and support and explore what’s changed for people with dementia since COVID-19. A recent event explored the role of music with Music For Dementia and further activities are planned for the rest of the year, as well as the launch of a new website. Visit www.dcan.org.uk for more details and to sign up to the DCAN network. You can also visit the new pop up site www.distancingwithdementia.org.uk for ideas of how to spend time at home when social distancing and other top tips.
Helping you to deliver personalised care The FutureNHS collaboration platform provides dedicated online spaces for colleagues with an interest in personalised care, providing access to a range of useful information and practical resources, including those specifically related to COVID-19, as well as discussion forums and information about upcoming online events and information sessions. Recent feedback suggests our virtual events are proving to be a helpful source of support, and we are committed to continuing with them. This includes webinars on topics such
as palliative and end of life care and social prescribing.
Personalised care in action: Interview with Sherone Phillips from our Palliative and End of Life Care Team.
Personalised care is the cornerstone for good palliative and end of life care and the recent crisis period has demonstrated how important this approach is for both people and practitioners. Here Sherone gives a first hand account about what its been like working for our Palliative and End of Life Care Team during COVID19.
“I joined the national Palliative and End of Life team mid-March, and since then our team has responded to a whole range of issues presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and worked tirelessly to find solutions that worked for public and patients as well as our health and care colleagues. Personalised care is a key part of finding these solutions. We’ve held a series of webinars with attendees from all sorts of healthcare settings, commissioners and leaders who work in the area of palliative and end of life care. We’ve heard and shared experiences of people stepping up to
the challenges with tenacity, true-grit, heart and empathy. Some sessions included tears, others had us grinning ear to ear. At the height of COVID-19 response, critical care decision-making hit the news and our team had a key role in bringing people together to talk about the issues facing them. Alongside the roundtable conversation detailed in this issue, we worked with a variety of partners to gather resources for staff and tools to get people thinking about their critical care preferences. The work to improve conversations continues with growing interest and support from a wide range of partners. Carers Week took place between 8-14 June 2020 and I was asked to join West Yorkshire and Harrogate BAME network podcast to talk about being a carer and supporting carers in BAME communities. Though I spoke as an honorary Northerner, the discussion is applicable to BAME carers wherever they live in the country. Have a listen here.
If you want to find out more about the work of our team, you can join our Practitioners’ Network or join our fortnightly virtual sessions – all details included in this issue.” Follow me on Twitter
Sherone Phillips, Palliative and End of Life Care Team
Resources for social prescribing link workers Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, almost 1,500 people have joined the Social Prescribing Online Network - an increase of over 70%. The site is hosting active discussion forums, FAQs and shared resources to support link workers respond to the pandemic. Also included are presentations used in webinars, providing information about topics relevant to the current crisis.
These include: food poverty, suicide awareness and safeguarding, bereavement support, personal resilience and health coaching. Regional learning coordinators are also providing local peer support for link workers. To get in touch with your regional coordinator, or to view webinar content and register for future webinars, email england.socialprescribing@nhs.net.
Supporting people with personal health budgets The latest resources and information to support people with personal health budgets, specifically those in receipt of direct payments, as well as commissioners and supporting organisations, are available from the Department of Health and Social Care. This includes: NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked closely with colleagues to ensure this information addresses the range of questions and support requirements for people receiving personal health budgets during the pandemic. Additional resources
and information are available on the personal health budget pages of the Personalised Care Collaborative Network. To contact the team, email england.personalhealthbudgets@nhs.net.
Helping you to have better conversations: new health coaching resources The Supported Self-Management Team has developed a number of health coaching resources, in response to requests from across the regions. They are designed to help in the delivery of effective health coaching and will be useful for anyone who wants to have better conversations with the people they support. A one page summary guide is
designed for practitioners, and includes a link to a video demonstrating the techniques in a real health coaching situation. COVID-19 resources for palliative and end of life care Our national Palliative and End of Life Care Team have worked to produce a series of resources during the COVID-19 response. We have detailed some of the more recent publications below. Please see the NHS England
Coronavirus page for more resources and guidance and if you have any queries, please email england.covid-eolc@nhs.net. - Standard operating procedure for children and young people with palliative and end of life care needs who are cared for in a community setting (home and hospice) Published 25 June 2020
- Clinical guide for supporting compassionate visiting arrangements for those receiving care at the end of life Published 11 May 2020
- Advance Care Plan guidance and editable template Published 13 April 2020 (*updated 11 May 2020 with further guidance notes)
- Clinical guidelines for children and young people with palliative care needs in all care settings Published 17 April 2020
- Clinical specialty guide for palliative and end of life care in secondary care Published 28 March 2020
Training for Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and supported self-management Using the PAM helps people to build their knowledge, skills and confidence. Online training is now available for people who have PAM licences as part of the NHS England Supported Self-management programme, whether they are already practitioners and commissioners, or are considering applying for licences. The training will cover how to successfully implement and scale-up use of the PAM:
- 14 July: What is the PAM?
- 29 July: Using PAM to tailor conversations and supported self-management approaches.
- 12 August: How to administer PAM
- 20 August: Embedding PAM in a CCG
For information and booking, visit Online Events on the Personalised Care Collaborative Workspace. Enquiries: england.patientactivation@nhs.net.
Upcoming online events and webinars
Please do share with us your experiences of putting personalised care into action, so that we can help promote your examples of best practice, both here in this bulletin and via england.pcgcommunications@nhs.net.
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