Integrated care or person centred care?

At the 6th "Right Care" Conference of the Clinical Management Section of the Societat Catalana de Gestió Sanitària we had the opportunity to get to know Don Redding, director of Policy and Partnerships for National Voices of the National Health Service and a well known promoter of the involving people in their own clinical processes. Redding said that the integration of services doesn’t make any sense if it’s intended only as an exercise of resource rationalization. On the contrary, he argued that coordination must be conceived based on the specific needs of each person, stating that every patient can be involved in their own care plan in agreement with close involved professionals and working as a team to achieve outcomes perceived as valuable by the patients themselves.

What matters to chronic patients?

In a previous post, I echoed the initiative "I statement" of the National Voices, a project that, in a structured way, picked up the point of view of people with chronic diseases. Redding summed it up in the following six points:

1. The professional team offers me a collaborative and trusting environment.

2. I have the support I need to make the decisions that best suit my way of being.

3. I receive elements of social prescription that help me be more connected to my community.

4. I receive support to increase my knowledge, skills and the confidence to be more autonomous.

5. The care plan is prepared jointly by me and the professionals involved.

6. I have an integrated budget for the social and health services that are included in the agreed care plan.

For the integration of social and health services, the English have chosen a strategy based on the real needs of people, instead of having focused on the management of resources, a courageous approach that will have to be followed carefully.

Given your interest, I enclose the video of Don Redding's conference on May 24, 2019 in Barcelona.