Preventative measures reduce admissions

Primary, public health and community care provide preventative services. Effective tools such as risk stratification are implemented and used on populations in primary and community care to reduce avoidable acute admissions. Acute physicians and (predominantly) geriatricians are also working in primary and community settings. Primary care and public health run programmes to educate people that are currently sixty to seventy years old. Due to increases in life expectancy this creates a culture of prevention, resulting in lower acute admissions.

Proposed workforce impact

• There is reduced demand for hospital-based acute physicians.
• More resources are used for preventative care.

Sources or references

• www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/technology_and_product_innovation/prevention_is_better_than_cure.html
• www.social-policy.org.uk/lincoln2011/Karen%20Windle%20Paper%201.pdf

Additional research questions

• Do people have confidence in the service that they will receive in the community?
• Will funding streams between primary and secondary care be changed to support this potential shift in location of care?

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.