About our Better Care Locally plan
Local councils and the NHS are working together to deliver better care, locally.
What this means for us
Across Central Bedfordshire, that means a range of service developments and initiatives are underway that are all designed to:
- help all our residents to stay healthy and well
- enable the provision of health and care services, in the right places, when they are needed by local people
- reduce pressure on hospitals so they can focus on the areas of specialist care – so that people can access a wider range of services out of hospital settings
As pressures on health and care services increase, we want to change the way we work to make it easier for you to access the care and support that you need, locally.
In Central Bedfordshire, we're working with the NHS to:
- join up services so that they are co-ordinated around the individual who needs them
- think differently about where services are provided – so rather than relying on people travelling long distances, looking at opportunities for community or home-based services
- give you more of a say in your caregiving you the information you need to manage your own health and include you in the decision making about how your needs are to be met
The background for change
Across the country, the organisations that provide health and care services are recognising that there is a need and an opportunity to change things for the better.
Traditionally there has been a divide between the NHS organisations that have provided health services and the local councils that have provided social care services.
The NHS covers services ranging from GP surgeries, specialist community services and hospitals. Our care services are also diverse. These include reablement, after a spell in hospital, which helps people to maintain their independence at home for as long as possible and ensuring that people have access to follow on care, such as residential and nursing homes, when these are required.
When you add into this mix the range of voluntary and private organisations who also provide these services, it is perhaps not surprising that a very complex range of services and organisations isn’t as joined up as it could be.
Demand for health and care services is also increasing, due to people living longer. We're working with local health services to enable people with long term health conditions to be better supported with joined-up services.
By working together and thinking differently, we are putting in place new ways of working that help us and our residents to meet these challenges.
This video, produced by the King’s Fund, helps to explain the complexities of the NHS and how this is changing. It also touches on how health and social care services are starting to work differently to provide better services.