Policy S2 — Health and social care facilities

Policy S2 Health and social care facilities A Boroughs should work with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and other NHS and community organisations to: 1) identify and address local health and social care needs within Development Plans, taking account of NHS Forward Planning documents and related commissioning and estate strategies, Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies 2) understand the impact and implications of service transformation plans and new models of care on current and future health infrastructure provision to maximise health and care outcomes 3) undertake a needs assessment to inform Development Plans, including an audit of existing health and social care facilities. Needs should be assessed locally and sub-regionally, addressing borough and CCG cross-boundary issues 4) identify sites in Development Plans for future provision, particularly in areas with significant growth and/or under provision and to address needs across borough boundaries 5) identify opportunities to make better use of existing and proposed new infrastructure through integration, co-location or reconfiguration of services, and facilitate the release of surplus buildings and land for other uses. B Development proposals that support the provision of high-quality new and enhanced health and social care facilities to meet identified need and new models of care should be supported. C New facilities should be easily accessible by public transport, cycling and walking. 5.2.1 London’s health care services are vital to maintaining and improving Londoners’ quality of life. The health service is also one of the capital’s major employers, with over 200,000 [82] people working in the NHS in London. Several factors affect the demand for health services and facilities . These include a growing and ageing population, an increase in complex and long-term health conditions that need an integrated approach, and changes in patients’ personal preferences. New treatments and technologies are also transforming the ability to predict, diagnose and treat conditions. Policies throughout the Plan seek to support preventative health measures and contribute positively to the wider determinants of health. This policy facilitates this by supporting the integrated service delivery of health and social care facilities and services. 5.2.2 The NHS Long Term Plan [83] builds on the NHS Five Year Forward View, which identified the need to prevent avoidable illness and transform the way that care is organised and delivered to meet increasing demands for healthcare within the resources available. It describes the following priorities: increasing support for people to manage their own health better, for example through diabetes prevention and management and online therapies for common mental health problems undertaking a higher proportion of healthcare in community rather than hospital settings redesigning and reducing pressure on emergency hospital services establishing digitally-enabled primary and outpatient care across the NHS making best use of available assets, including more flexible approaches to how facilities are used and the overall configuration of the health estate, which requires a mix of dis-investment in older, out-of-date facilities and re-investment in more modern, fit for purpose estate ensuring that models of care change and continuously evolve ensuring that existing and planned new health infrastructure supports and facilitates change. 5.2.3 There are currently four broad types of health infrastructure provision : primary care – GP practices, plus community pharmacists, dentists and opticians community healthcare – this covers a wide range of diagnostic and healthcare services, including non-acute mental health services, which provide a means of delivering care closer to home than from a hospital setting acute provision specialist provision. 5.2.4 Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) were produced by the NHS and local Government in 2016 to set out how local health and care services would evolve and become sustainable by 2020/21. Five sub-regional STPs were developed in London. These five-year plans set out in varying levels of detail the proposed changes to NHS hospital estates and primary care facilities in each area. Local NHS organisations will increasingly focus on population health and partnerships with local authority-funded services through the development of new integrated care systems (ICSs) that will emerge from sustainability and transformation partnerships. ICSs will deliver the integration of primary and specialist care, physical and mental health services and health and social care. 5.2.5 Whilst there is no one-size-fits-all model of care, and an increasing blurring of the boundaries between primary, secondary (acute) and tertiary (specialist) health services, there are some broad underlying principles that underpin the planning of new facilities or changes to existing facilities. The NHS General Practice Forward View [84] and the NHS Long Term Plan support the provision of primary care at greater scale, with larger practices and/or more joined up networks of GPs offering a wider range of services to patients, including extended opening hours and widespread use of digital consultations. This means fewer GP practices serving larger patient catchments (perhaps 10-20,000 people per practice) and operating from larger premises than is the norm at present. Models of community healthcare are based around larger population catchments (50,000 or more people) or localities to ensure individual services are viable, and to maximise the benefits of integrating and/or co-locating services in community healthcare centres or hubs, or in more flexible ways across localities or networks of service providers. [85] 5.2.6 In assessing the need for new health and social care facilities , consideration should be given to the location, scale and timing of new residential development, and thLondon Plan Policy S2 · official source →