Issue 3
Feb 2017
Focusing on the principle of home first and designing the “Perfect Locality” from
the lens of the community
Welcome to the third issue of “Our Future Wellbeing”, a regular update on the successes of our major programmes of work helping to describe
a "Perfect Locality"; BIG 2 and Shaping our Future Wellbeing: In Our Community. Each issue we are sharing a piece of the jigsaw that
comprises of all the pieces needed to produce the Perfect Locality. In this issue, we are looking at how we can sustain primary care
particularly general practice.
Primary Care
Co-design
Develop
whole
system
models
(that
matter to
citizens
and
patients)
Health literacy
Co-production
Improve
patient
pathways
across
primary and
secondary
care
Co-ownership
Sustain
primary
care
particularly
general
practice
Primary care is about those services which
provide the first point of care, day or night for
more than 90% of people‟s contact with the
NHS in Wales.
Sustain
primary care
particularly
general
practice
Focus on
Wellbeing
Develop
Health &
Wellbeing
Centres and
Wellbeing
Hubs Empowerment
Facilitate
technology
solutions
Self-care
General practice is a core element of primary care but also encompasses
many more health services, including, pharmacy, dentistry, and optometry.
Importantly, it is also about coordinating access for people to the wide
range of services in the local community to help meet their health and
wellbeing needs.
Primary Care
These community services include a very wide range of staff, such as community and
district nurses, midwives, health visitors, mental health teams, health promotion teams,
physiotherapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, phlebotomists, speech and
language therapists, paramedics, social services, other local authority staff and all those
people working and volunteering in the wealth of voluntary organisations which support
people in our communities.
General Practice and Primary Care Sustainability
We know the health needs of our population are changing, that we belong to an ageing population in which an increasing number
of people have multiple long-term conditions people who require complex medical care delivered at home or in their community. Quite
rightly, our expectations for our own and our family‟s wellbeing are continuously rising and there is growing intolerance of longstanding inequalities in health.
Additionally, the financial environment in which health care is provided is changing , health and social care systems are under
increasing financial pressure, while the needs of patients and populations continue to grow, in both complexity and volume. These
constraints mean that a move towards more cost-effective, integrated, resilient systems of care are essential, with new structures
that enable communities to take an increasing role and responsibility for the design and delivery of localised services and to develop
as self-sufficient health resources in their own right.
These long-term trends mean that expert generalist care is needed more now than at any time since the foundation of the NHS – and
this requirement will become greater still over the next decade. Only a healthcare professional with highly developed generalist skills
is able to apply his or her medical expertise to the growing range of long-term conditions; to incorporate this knowledge into „wholeperson‟ understanding of the patient and their family; to manage risk safely; and to share complex decisions with patients and carers,
while adopting an integrated approach to their care.
General Practice and Primary Care Sustainability
The 1000 Lives Pacesetters and Pathfinders Programme has proposed a road map with stable primary care and general practice
at the heart of the service:
Social Prescribing
Social prescribing is a way of linking citizens and patients in primary care with sources of support within the community.
It provides GPs with a non-medical referral option that can operate alongside existing treatments to improve health and wellbeing. While there is no widely agreed definition of social prescribing, or „community referrals‟, reports on social prescribing include
an extensive range of prescribed interventions and activities.
Social Prescribing
The words people have used when discussing social prescribing were very different but they identified a number of common elements
which highlighted:
• The central role of an asset-based approach to development
• A stronger focus on wellness not illness
• An emphasis on the importance of personal choice and control in achieving and maintaining wellbeing
• The need to re-imagine future workforce development and training needs with new kinds of bridging roles
• The value of this approach in terms of the potential to contribute to real transformation of health and care systems through joint
endeavour.
Social prescribing is often defined as “a means of enabling
primary care services to refer patients with social, emotional or
practical needs to a range of local, non-clinical services, often
provided by the third sector.” The third sector includes charities,
voluntary organisations and community groups. In practice this
means that GPs, nurses or other healthcare practitioners
work with patients to identify non-medical opportunities or
interventions that will help them adopt healthier lifestyles or
improve wider social aspects of their lives.
Schemes such as exercise-on-prescription projects have been
established or piloted in a number of areas and said to have
been „very successful‟.
We are promoting access to non-clinical interventions from third
sector services and community groups as a way of making
general practice more sustainable. This includes interventions
such as volunteering, time banking and peer support.
© Scarlet Design International Ltd. 2017
Achieving Wellbeing Through Volunteering
What is Pave the Way?
Pave the Way is a new project funded by the Big Lottery to support people into
volunteering to achieve wellbeing. Operating throughout Cardiff and the Vale of
Glamorgan, it is led by Cardiff and Vale Action for Mental Health (cavamh) in partnership
with Glamorgan Voluntary Services (GVS) in the Vale and Voluntary Community Services
(VCS) in Cardiff. This ensures that our project can be delivered in the community and led
by the organisation which understands your area and the volunteering opportunities
available
Why „Wellbeing through Volunteering‟?
Many people do not want to be labelled with „mental health‟ needs and therefore may not feel encouraged to take a first step by
contacting us. Research shows that some of the common barriers that people face to volunteering due to poor mental health include :
•
•
•
•
Lacking confidence and/or self esteem
Feeling isolated or anxious about group/ social settings
Lack of motivation
Just not knowing where to start
Pave the Way recognises this and how we can help an individual achieve improved wellbeing so we can tailor our work to meet any
specific needs that people have. We will spend time with the person at the start assisting them to find a volunteering opportunity that will
be interesting and beneficial.
How to become part of Pave the Way
People can contact the Pave the Way team directly to discuss whether Pave the Way can help. Agencies can also refer clients to us if
appropriate. The process is straightforward as we want to make it as easy as possible for people to access Pave the Way:
For individuals residing in the Vale of Glamorgan contact our Vale Volunteering Officer :Clare Humphreys at GVS on 01446 741706 or e mail [email protected]
For individuals residing in Cardiff contact our Cardiff Volunteering Officer :Jo Harry at VCS on 029 2132 2627 or e mail [email protected]
For businesses or organisations that want to get involved with Pave the Way by learning more about good mental health and/or to take
on volunteers contact:
Andrew Jones – Pave The Way Co-ordinator on 029 2022 2200 or e mail [email protected]
Pavethewaywales
@pavethewaywales
Like to Find out More?
We are going to produce regular updates on BIG 2, the Perfect Locality, and Shaping Our Future Wellbeing via “Our Future
Wellbeing”, but we would love to hear from you! If you have any suggestions or would like some more information visit or contact:
http://www.cardiffandvaleuhb.wales.nhs.uk/our-mission-and-vision
Engagement Lead
[email protected]
Tel: 029 20747935
Corporate Strategic Planning Lead
[email protected]
Tel: 029 20747951
Communications Officer
[email protected]
Tel: 029 20748890