New services planned to reduce hospital pressures

More people needing medical attention in Oxfordshire will be treated at home or in a community setting, under new plans announced by health chiefs.

The joint plan between Oxfordshire's health and social care services, called the Better Care Fund, will prioritise spending on treatment options closer to home.

This year's fund amounts to £80.6m, which is part of a wider annual shared health and social care fund of more than £500m.

The fund, pooled between the local NHS and Oxfordshire County Council, previously focused on improving discharge rates from hospitals.

Dan Leveson, director for places and communities for Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB), said: "What we really want to do is get all the support in and around people, at home and in their communities, so that we can avoid people going in to the hospital in the first place."

With health and social care partners reporting a 20% reduction in the average length of a hospital stay in Oxfordshire, money is now being prioritised to reduce the number of avoidable admissions into hospital.

Mr Leveson said: "There is a percentage of people at the moment who are admitted into hospital for non-urgent admissions, that if we had different care, if we had access to hospital at home, district nursing, social care and reablement, then they can stay home."

Yearly NHS spending for Oxfordshire is estimated to be between £1.5bn to £2 bn.

Plans include to further develop Oxfordshire's single point of access for community services, making it easier to access services like home nursing visits and intermediate care rather than going directly to hospital.

The region's urgent community response system will also be expanded to offer an alternative to paramedics taking people to hospital when they can be better cared for at home.

Integrated neighbourhood teams will be broadened, with teams specialising in areas including physiotherapy and community nursing being able to provide hospital-level treatment at a more local level, alongside the already established Hospital at Home service.

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