Self-management could help ease the high demand on GPs

To help ease the high demand on GPs across south London, self-management is a priority in the NHS 10-Year Plan and focuses on key areas like diabetes prevention and management, cardiovascular, asthma and respiratory conditions, maternity and parenting support and online therapies for common mental health conditions.

Individuals need support to build the skills and confidence necessary for effective self-management of longstanding conditions, and health professionals need to be aware of and trained on the available supportive tools, taking account of any inequalities and accessibility barriers their patients may face.

Research presented by Self Management UK[1] shows that, on average, people living with a heath condition spend just three hours per year with their healthcare team—the rest of their time is spent self-managing these conditions. NHS organisations need to work closely with local authorities and other partners to provide the support and guidance to help south Londoners self-manage properly.

There are many interventions available to help support the self-management of common conditions, some of which are:

education for specific health conditions;
peer-led courses;
online self-management tools;
telephone support and telehealth; and
self-monitoring of medication and symptoms using digital technology.

How can innovation help?

You can help respond to our local needs by addressing the following challenge statements:

How might we maximise digital solutions to support self-management of health risks and chronic conditions?
How can digital solutions emphasise patient responsibility and, acting in conjunction with the provider community, move beyond education, enabling individuals to actively identify challenges and solve problems associated with their illness?
What are the barriers to public awareness and successful patient uptake of these self-management solutions?

We’d love to collaborate with you on these challenges. Please get in touch with Karla Richards karla.richards@nhs.net if you have a digital solution for health and care self-management, including for long-term conditions, mental health, heart disease, COPD etc.

Contact Karla

How technology can improve the delivery of social care services

With a growing population of older and disabled adults, London’s demand for care is placing the social care system under huge strain. Further to this, London Councils estimates that boroughs across the city have experienced a combined loss of more than £4 billion in core funding since 2010 (a reduction of around 63%). We need to think differently about how and where services are delivered, utilising digital solutions to maximise the workforce and care provided.

Health and social care systems are critical to maintaining the physical and mental wellbeing of Londoners. We need a digital revolution in adult social care, starting with exploring how social care services could be delivered digitally. Technology has the potential to help free up staff time by enabling users to access services digitally, thereby improving their independence, efficiency and wellbeing and reducing the need for in-person care visits simply for reassurance. Where this type of digital solution has been implemented, service users report that it helps to increase their digital literacy and independence and reduces their social isolation. It has also led to more flexible working for social care staff.

On Friday 13 March 2020 at St Thomas’ Hospital we hosted an Innovation Exchange event on the ‘Digital Revolution in Social Care’. The event brought together our members and key stakeholders in this field to discuss and showcase the most cutting-edge digital innovations to both inspire and practically help our industry partners to shape the future of social care delivery.

If you are interested in learning more about this innovation challenge please email Lesley.soden@nhs.net or if you missed the event you can see a glimpse of what you missed below.