A PROJECT in Newquay which brings together health and social care providers and the voluntary sector is in contention for a prestigious national award.
Newquay Pathfinder Project is one of ten shortlisted in the Managing Long-Term Conditions category of the 2013 Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards.
Newquay Pathfinder provides integrated care to patients with long-term medical conditions, bringing together the NHS, Adult Social Care, the voluntary sector (Age UK) and local volunteers to provide a range of services to people identified as being in need of support.
The HSJ Awards work to champion best practice and innovation to overcome the challenges which face the health sector and are said to be the most prestigious and coveted awards in UK health.
GP lead for the Newquay area, Dr Tamsyn Anderson, said: "The aim is to provide patients with the support they need as early as possible to try to avoid extended hospital stays or repeated treatment. Instead, community care services can help people manage their conditions in their own homes.
"We can now deliver support that, in the past, would have been very difficult for us, in a purely health service structure.
"We've been very good at looking after their immediate health needs, but health has become so pressured that it's become very reactive to peoples' needs and not so proactive.
"What this scheme has allowed us to do is actively look for patients who have a number of healthcare demands and then support them, with the help of volunteers and social care services, to manage some of their problems.
"The scheme is designed to provide long-term sustainable support for people and we hope that it will help build communities.
"Some of the services offered are supermarket trips, coffee mornings and exercise groups that really help people who have struggled to simply leave the house.
"We initially recruited 100 patients and the impact the scheme has had on them is now being evaluated. We will then consider expanding the scheme across the county."
For more information on the HSJ Awards visit hsjawards.co.uk
