Bosses from private firm Virgin Care have revealed that they have prevented 480 people from going into hospital unnecessarily during the time they have run some health services in the area.
The £270 million contract that saw Virgin Care take control of a number of health services in East Staffordshire for the next seven years began on May 1, 2016 and in the 18 months since then, Virgin Care bosses say significant progress has been made. The 480 people have received health services at home or had been given the right support to stop them from being admitted into hospital, according to the organisation.
The details were revealed at an open meeting held at Burton Town Hall on Tuesday, October 10, by Virgin Care to give the residents of East Staffordshire an update on what has been achieved in the time since the contract began.
The sort of care provided at home included treatment for those suffering with diabetes, heart failure and asthma, among others, with the aim to stop them having to unnecessarily visit hospital when there are other solutions.
Doctor Vivienne McVey, the chief strategy officer at Virgin Care, spoke at length at the meeting about how the firm had operated in the last year and a half.
She said: "It's fair to say that the last 18 months has been challenging here in East Staffordshire. We knew it would be hard to fulfil the expectations of both our commissioners and all of the residents and I think we knew what some of the difficulties were going to be.
"Over the last 18 months we've kept a strong relationship with those at Burton Hospitals NHS Trust. I think we talk the same language and we are really trying to push forward together to improve care for all of you who live in this part of East Staffordshire."
Virgin Care was set up more than ten years ago and was chosen by East Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, in 2014 to help manage services, including care for those with long-term illness and the elderly or frail, in the area.
The commissioning group (CCG) had decided to focus on helping people to be healthier for longer and to target those with long-term conditions by offering them additional care, through a programme entitled Improving Lives, which Virgin Care landed the £270m contract to operate the services.
Charles Pidsley, the chairman of East Staffordshire CCG said that the process that saw Virgin Care secure the contract was a long one.
Mr Pidsley told the meeting: "We've done a lot of engagement with patients, a lot of hours with those suffering with long-term conditions to fund what they need and tell them what we provide.
"The aim is to receive more support at an earlier stage in a condition, join up the services where they were fragmented, give a wider choice of access and empower people to manage conditions themselves.
"What matters most is patients should feel supported, confident, safe and informed so with all of that in mind, we entered another stage of Improving Lives, so the end result was to appoint a prime contractor to integrate and transform health services, and that was Virgin Care.
"It's a fixed price contract, based on outcomes rather than particular pieces of work. It's a seven-year contract and is subject to all of the NHS constitutional standards and is subject to all of the NHS assurance processes that the commissioner apply to.
"When we succeed in this programme, thousands of people's lives will be better, and that must be worth all of the work."
Since taking on the contract in East Staffordshire, Virgin Care has implemented a number of projects aimed at improving the long term health of those in the area.
Among them is the '8 to Hydrate' campaign which aims to educate residents on the importance of having plenty to drink to stay hydrated; all aimed at reducing unnecessary visits to the hospital.
Dr McVey said: "It's not always easy to explain what we're doing and what the different strands are that we cover.
"To sum it up there are three things; we provide the services here for adults directly. So the staff may wear Virgin Care lanyards and uniforms but they provide NHS services to you. Like the district nurses and community matrons who look after the frail and elderly, who help manage long term conditions, like diabetes, heart failure and asthma, and then deliver intermediate care.
"This is the care that sits between the hospital and general practice, to keep people at home and stops people from going to hospital unnecessarily.
Queen's Hospital in Burton
"The second role is as a prime contractor. We have a number of sub-contacts with organisations in East Staffordshire. We have a sub-contract with Burton Hospitals for some services that they provide to adults, which is where we are working closely to make the pathway smooth for you between being at home and being in hospital.
"Our third role is as being an integral partner with many organisations, one in particular, being with social care which is really important. It's important for health and social care services to work closely together to enable people, particularly the old and frail to stay at home if that’s what they want, and we’re doing some great work to enable more people to do so."
Virgin Care has also introduced a care co-ordination centre to East Staffordshire which is one central call line those who have received care from their staff can call and be directed to where they need to. As of October 30, the service that was available five days a week will operate seven days, between 8am and 6pm.
