Health care

A short video aimed at patients and carers which features a number of professionals, patients and carers, who talk about how a more personalised approach to care can improve outcomes.

An evaluation exploring the lives of older people living with multiple long term conditions, assessing how well the health and care system is meeting their needs. The evaluation heard the views of 36 patients, family members and carers in order to gain an insight into their experiences of living with and managing their long term conditions and the care they receive.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 introduced significant amendments to the NHS Act 2006. This guidance supports two legal duties, requiring clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and commissioners in NHS England to enable patients and carers to participate in planning, managing and making decisions about their care and treatment through the services they commission; and to enable effective public participation in the commissioning process, so that services provided reflect the needs of local people.

This article summarises PhD research undertaken by the author and provides readers with the carer assessment tools validated in the study. [Journal abstract]

Carers play a central role in many healthcare users' lives. Although services are recognising that they must be valued and supported, there is much more to be done to ensure this unpaid workforce's wellbeing, reports Jennifer Taylor. 

In eight short films people in the Department of Health's personal health budgets pilot programme share their experiences so far. They describe in their own words what the process is like, what they spend their money on and how they decided on this. The stories also include the perspectives of family carers and health care professionals. An introduction by Minister of State for Care Services Paul Burstow is also available.

Besides patients’ health and well-being, healthcare interventions may affect the well-being of significant others. Such ‘spill over effects’ in significant others may be distinguished in two distinct effects: (i) the caregiving effect and (ii) the family effect. The first refers to the welfare effects of providing informal care, i.e., the effects of caring for someone who is ill. The second refers to a direct influence of the health of a patient on others’ well-being, i.e., the effects of caring about other people.

Personalisation is now the driving agenda for adult social care and Putting People First recognises that increasing numbers of ordinary people will be called upon to contribute to care delivered in people’s own homes. Of the UK's six million carers, 1.3 million are already caring, unpaid, for over 50 hours a week. Carers have always wanted better outcomes for the people they care for. However, with many carers suffering poverty, ill health and isolation due to unsustainably heavy caring roles, they also want and deserve better outcomes for themselves.