EASP. WHO Collaborating Centre Resources

This growing repository holds WHO documents, scientific publications, implementation reports, toolkits, multimedia and other resources with information and insights about integrated people-centred health services. Share your resource by clicking “Add”.

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Jan. 26, 2016

Global

Policy document

Empowering and engaging people and communities, Reorienting the model of care, Coordinating services within and across sectors, Creating an enabling environment

The OECD Mental Health and Work Policy Framework - Integrated services for sustainable growth

Mental health is an important driver of labour market outcomes and thus affects economic growth and future development. If labour markets are to function well, it is important that policy makers address the interplay between mental health and work, as they are slowly coming to recognise that they have long neglected an issue that is critical to people’s well-being and for contributing to sustainable economic growth. This report discusses which aspects of mental health and employment interventions must be addressed to push policy making in the right direction, namely: when to intervene, how to intervene or what to do, and who needs to intervene. It draws on policy examples from nine OECD countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK), discussing why policy must make those changes and how it can achieve them. The examples are rich in nature and, taken together, provide a promising and ...
Jan. 19, 2016

Global

Toolkit

Empowering and engaging people and communities, Strengthening governance and accountability, Reorienting the model of care, Coordinating services within and across sectors, Creating an enabling environment, Multiple streams

Person-centred Care Around the World

This directory of person-centred care organisations around the world was produced as part of an international environment scan of the field of person-centred care undertaken by Health Policy Partnership. This useful tool highlights the leading international centres working on similar aspects of person-centred care to the Health Foundation. The tool can help to identify person-centred care research, measurement and implementation ‘hot spots’ in different settings globally. The tool enables collaboration between those working on person-centred care by providing key information on the type of work being undertaken on person-centred care. Please share this tool with contacts and colleagues to encourage greater collaboration.
Jan. 14, 2016

Africa

Implementation report

Empowering and engaging people and communities, Reorienting the model of care, Creating an enabling environment

Integrated health and community systems strengthening for improved contraceptive access and uptake in Nampula province, Mozambique

As with all types of interventions, the integration of health services demands an adjustment to contextual characteristics, ranging from the burden of disease to society and culture. Thus, in developing countries across Africa, efforts towards the integration of health services overwhelmingly focus on communicable diseases and family planning, and aim to involve existing community structures in the delivery of health services. Such is the case of the USAID-funded Strengthening Communities through Integrated Programming (SCIP) project in Nampula province, Mozambique. This project, implemented from 2009 to 2015 by Pathfinder International and its partners, worked to increase access to contraceptive services by strengthening and better integrating health and community systems. Toward the end of the project, Pathfinder observed a nearly 400 percent increase in couple years of protection (CYP). Furthermore, they found that the distribution of all contraceptive methods had increased, suggesting improved method choice and minimized health provider bias. Recognizing the ...
Jan. 14, 2016

Americas

Blog

Coordinating services within and across sectors

Integrated health systems and cost: accountability and price control are also important.

Integrated Health Services are frequently thought as a tool to decrease healthcare-related costs, specially in systems with a high level of fragmentation. In the US healthcare system reform, Medicare has often been used as a reference point of the overall health expenditure. In this post, this hypothesis is analysed according to a recent article from the National Bureau of Economic Research ("The Price Ain’t Right? Hospital Prices and Health Spending on the Privately Insured") where the authors review the costs of 306 Hospital Referral Regions in the US, showing a big discordance between Medicare costs and overall costs. In the analysis of Josh Freeman it is said that the dominant position of some integrated health services in some regions is used to perform very efficient healthcare provission in the Medicare level but also to increase the rates to private insurers. 0 0 1 234 1290 sara 10 3 1521 ...
Jan. 9, 2016

Europe

Other

Empowering and engaging people and communities, Reorienting the model of care, Coordinating services within and across sectors

Older people with social care needs and multiple long-term conditions

In November 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK published a guideline on care and support for older people with social care needs and multiple long-term conditions. The guideline recommends that care should be integrated and person-centred, while at present “some people are still being treated as a collection of conditions or symptoms, rather than as a whole person”. NICE calls for a designated care coordinator who would serve as the older person’s first point of contact as well as communicate with all health and social care services, including those provided by non-governmental organizations. Moreover, care should be supported by community-based multidisciplinary teams, which might include “a community pharmacist, physiotherapist or occupational therapist, a mental health social worker or psychiatrist, and a community-based services liaison worker”. The guideline also calls for health and social care providers to support the person with respect in ...
Jan. 9, 2016

Europe

Implementation report

Empowering and engaging people and communities, Reorienting the model of care, Coordinating services within and across sectors, Creating an enabling environment

What does it take to make integrated care work?: A ‘cookbook’ for large-scale deployment of coordinated care and telehealth. A personalised approach that will benefit patients in your organisation.

Evidence on integrated care is not only needed to show which interventions work, but also to understand how organisational processes affect these interventions. Therefore, evidence from large-scale implementations is especially important. In October 2015, the consortium of the EU-funded programme 'Advancing Care Coordination and Telehealth Deployment' (ACT) published a ‘cookbook’ of good practices, focusing on the structural and organisational drivers as well as barriers to large-scale deployment of care coordination and telehealth in five European regions. The report centres on chronic patients and elderly people, giving recommendations regarding staff engagement, patient adherence, risk stratification and programme assessment. The report does not only look at health outcomes, but also economic outcomes such as the total cost per patient and the transition of resources towards primary care. An example of good practice from the Northern Netherlands is the programme Embrace. A core element of Embrace is the work of multidisciplinary teams led ...
Jan. 9, 2016

Europe

Implementation report

Reorienting the model of care, Coordinating services within and across sectors

Acute hospitals and integrated care

In March 2015, the King’s Fund published a report regarding the progress made by five acute hospital providers in England towards developing more integrated models of care. According to the report, becoming more closely integrated with primary care has proved a considerable challenge for these hospitals. This is partly due to the lack of alternatives to building relationships on a practice-by-practice basis. As the report explains, GP provider groups or federations “are still at an early stage of development in many areas of the country, and where they do exist it is not always clear that they are sufficiently cohesive to represent local practices and have leverage over them”. However, the report identifies a number of factors which facilitate the coordination between hospitals and primary care. These include strong clinical leadership in general practice; employing people with a primary care background at a senior level within the acute provider ...
Jan. 9, 2016

Europe

Implementation report

Coordinating services within and across sectors

Local leadership, new approaches: improving the health of local communities

In February 2015, Public Health England and the Local Government Association published a report on how local authorities and the health sector have worked together to improve the health of communities through prevention and early intervention. An example of this coordination is highlighted in a case study on the new Integrated Wellbeing Service in Blackburn with Darwen. The service has been developed in a joint effort by the borough council and the local GP-led Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). It combines CCG-funded projects concerning specific long-term conditions (e.g. COPD or stroke), together with public health-funded services (e.g. tobacco cessation, health trainers, community physical activity), as well as core council services to address employment, housing and financial issues. As Councillor Mohammed Khan, Chair of Blackburn with Darwen Health and Wellbeing Board, explains: “[L]ocally we have a lot of services that can improve health and wellbeing. But when you put ...
Jan. 4, 2016

Global

Scientific publication

Coordinating services within and across sectors

Primary Care Physicians In Ten Countries Report Challenges Caring For Patients With Complex Health Needs

A compelling article that explores some of the current challenges facing the integration of primary care within the health systems of 10 high income countries. The data comes from the 18th annual Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians which was completed in 2015 in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While primary care physicians reported being well prepared for multiple chronic medical conditions, several health areas such as mental health and addiction were noted for being weak points for providers. A frequent challenge was a lack of communication with other parts of the health care system as well as with social services although there was significant variation between countries. An important finding of the study was “that having an electronic health record does not ensure electronic flow of information with doctors outside of one’s ...
June 2, 2015

Global

Scientific publication

Strengthening governance and accountability, Reorienting the model of care

Integrated care: meaning, logic, applications, and implications – a discussion paper

Integrated care is a burgeoning field. As is often the case in new areas of inquiry and action, conceptual clarification is demanded. Without such attention, it would be difficult to advance theory and practice in this increasingly important professional arena. In the following discussion paper, the authors explore the intellectual territory of integrated care, and underscore the need for a patient-centric imperative and meaning. They also examine the practical applications and implications arising from their views. The intention is to stimulate fruitful dialogue and debate about what ‘integrated care’ could and should be.