Current population estimate: 275,000
Number of GP practices: 41
Local authority partners:
Essex County Council (provides social care)
Basildon Council
Brentwood Borough Council
Current annual budget:
£340 million for community, mental health, ambulance, hospital services, continuing healthcare and prescribed medicines.
Creating local networks of joined up services
GPs and community services in Basildon and Brentwood are developing services in five neighbourhoods – Brentwood, Billericay, Wickford, East Basildon, West Basildon
In each neighbourhood, the different services are joining together to improve care in two main ways:
- Team work between professionals for people who have long term and complex health and care needs, and need regular and continuing support
- Partnerships between services and between practices to give you and your family a quicker and better service when you need it
Extending the range of your local services
- GPs, community nurses, therapists, social workers and mental health specialists working together and based at your local GP practice
- New and extended roles for pharmacists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are specially trained to take on some of the services that your GP provides currently.
- People trained to give personal support, advice and reassurance that can sometimes help you more than the traditional, short medical consultation.
- Moving some hospital tests and outpatient appointments into each of our neighbourhoods so that you have more choice and access is easier
- In 2018/19, everyone in Basildon and Brentwood will be able to make an appointment at a local surgery between 6.30 and 8pm on weekdays, for at least six hours on a Saturday and four hours on a Sunday.
Examples of current progress
Social prescribing and “care navigators”
Between February 2016 and July 2017, the CCG ran a pilot scheme to help patients and their carers get the support they needed, whether from different parts of the NHS, voluntary services or different local authorities providing social care and housing. We called the scheme the “Social Prescribing Service”.
The pilot involved three GP practices and the Social Prescribing Service was provided by a partnership between Basildon, Billericay and Wickford CVS, Essex County Council’s Community Agents and Provide, a not-for-profit provider of community services.
444 patients got help from the Social Prescribing Service, ranging from social care and social opportunities to help to get back to work after a long period of unemployment to financial advice, all of which had an important positive impact on their health and wellbeing.
We are now extending this scheme to all of our GP practices so everyone can get help from a “care navigator” if they need to get help with housing, finance, lifestyle advice and community activities.
Better care for frail people
Providers of community health services have allocated staff to teams in each of our GP practices. The aim is to work with people who are living with frailty to set a personal care plan and build up the relationship between patient and professionals, to get the right support in place and avoid serious illness. Local patient representatives are helping to design the care plan, so that it can work for everyone involved.
Better care for end of life
We have developed a scheme with St Luke’s Hospice in Basildon, which we’ve called “One Response” because it gives people who may be approaching the end of their life a single point of contact to get all the health and social care support they need to die at home or in a place of their choosing.
One Response operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide help to both professionals and families, including going out to visit a family within a few days or within two hours if necessary. Sometimes the service brings in nursing expertise, help to get a special piece of equipment and sometimes it simply provides advice and support. It includes clinical nurse specialists, palliative care nurses and care assistants.
Following the success on One Response in Basildon and Brentwood, our colleagues in Mid Essex CCG are also introducing a similar scheme.
More information is available at www.basildonandbrentwoodccg.nhs.uk