Our health and care needs are changing: our lifestyles are increasing our risk of preventable disease and are affecting our wellbeing, we are living longer with more multiple long-term conditions like asthma, diabetes and heart disease and the health inequality gap is increasing.
As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, local NHS organisations will increasingly focus on population health and local partnerships with local authority-funded services, through Integrated Care Systems (ICS).
Therefore Population Health Management (PHM) is the critical building block for ICS’s and enables PCNs to deliver with their local partners true Personalised Care (PC). Together, the three Ps (PHM, PCNs, PC) form a core offer for local people which ensures care is tailored to their personal needs and delivered as close to home as possible.
PHM enables systems and local teams to understand and look for the best solutions to people’s needs – not just medically but also socially – including the wider determinants of people’s health.
Many people need support with issues such as housing, employment, or social isolation – all of which can affect their physical and mental health – these solutions are often already available through, or better designed with, local people, the local council or a voluntary organisation.
Better partnership working using PHM to join up the right person with the right care solution helps us to improve outcomes, reduce duplication and use our resources more effectively. Health and care services are more proactive in helping people to manage their health and wellbeing, provide more personalised care when it’s needed and that local services are working together to offer a wider range of support closer to people’s homes.