The Healthy Lives Partnership (HLP) is part of a longer journey towards integrated care, which began in 2014 with a vision set out by the Plymouth Health and Wellbeing Board. Officially, the partnership was announced by Livewell Southwest and University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust on 01 July, 2021.
To support the key projects involved in HLP we dedicated one week before Christmas across UHP and Livewell Southwest’s (LSW) social media channels, focussing on patient and clinician led stories from the partnership. Our teams and individuals at LSW and UHP work collaboratively to develop and improve services for patients, and we want to bring you examples from some of the programmes involved in the partnership.
Rachel O’Connor, UHPs Director of Integrated Care, Partnerships and Strategy, has said: “The partnership was officially announced in July of 2021, and as we move into 2024 the main areas of focus for the HLP are to enable greater partnership working, promoting health and early intervention, effective discharge and family wellbeing.”
“2024 will see us continue to work together to make a difference in how some of our services are delivered. Some of these projects include helping to support people earlier improving access to care, ease the level of demand on Urgent and Emergency Care, and help people to live independent lives.”
Below, are stories from each day included in the social media takeover week. In an example from our Virtual Ward programme, you’ll hear about Sue Miller’s experience as a patient. The service has just celebrated its first birthday too – a huge milestone in providing consultant led care, at home, through digital enablement.
Virtual Wards
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m home.” Sue Miller was a patient under the Virtual Ward – an initiative which supports patients to receive the acute care, monitoring and support they need in the place they call home.
Prior to the Virtual Ward programme, Sue would have had a stay in hospital, but instead she is able to talk about her experience of receiving care at home with the assistance of technology.
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iCOPE
“She’s made me part of the effort to cure me instead of just being an onlooker. I don’t want to live in a hospital atmosphere. I want to be in an ordinary atmosphere because I think that helps me.”
John tells us about receiving treatment at home with nurse Annie through the iCOPE programme. Integrated Care for Older People focuses on proactive care of people aged 65 and over. Livewell Southwest is working with Primary Care Networks and voluntary sector partners to identify frailty and support patients’ wishes for their ongoing care.
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Stroke Pathway
Keith, who suffered a stroke and was admitted to Derriford Hospital and subsequently Wembury Ward at Mount Gould, talks about the care he received during his recovery from colleagues involved in the partnership and his personal endeavours on his road to recovery.
Donna Berry, a Stroke Clinical Nurse Specialist on Wembury Ward, talks about Keith’s remarkable recovery, and a special intervention she used with Keith that she has rolled out across the UHP stroke pathway.
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Care at the End of Life
“We only get one chance to get end of life care right,” – Ali Griffiths, Advanced EOL/Palliative care practitioner.
With a new scheme, we hope we are getting it right. Thursday’s story from the Healthy Lives Partnership is about a new End of Life Nurse role which has been funded initially by Macmillan to identify patients being brought to or arriving at the Emergency Department in their last days or hours of life.
Ali, who is an Advanced Care Practitioner Nurse, supports patients to die with dignity and privacy and wherever possible, in the place of their choosing. Ali also supports families.
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Friday – Cardiac pre-hab pilot
The HLP collaborated in a cardiac prehabilitation pilot project which commenced in April 2023.
We heard from Raymond Collins, who shares his experience of the pilot sessions in preparation for his bypass surgery, and Chloe Hutchinson, Cardiac Prehab Nurse, who led on this project.
The pilot allowed patients that were waiting for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery at Derriford Hospital to have access to a specialised rehabilitation programme offering advice and support on lifestyle management to be at their best for surgery and aid recovery.
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