A whole system approach to avoiding hospital admissions
27 August 2015
Avoiding hospital admissions is central to the future sustainability of the NHS. In Bristol the Integration to Avoid Hospital Admissions Health Integration Team (ITHAcA HIT) is bringing decision makers from across the urgent care system together to reduce complexity and develop new research.
Part of Bristol Health Partners, a strategic collaboration of the region’s major health institutions, from universities to hospitals, and commissioners to public health, ITHAcA HIT has three priority themes: avoidable hospital admissions (with a focus on chronic obstructive disease (COPD), dementia and childhood asthma), the management of risk around avoidable admission and using evidence and data to inform commissioning.
Studies that ITHAcA is working on with CLAHRC West include an investigation of discharge from secondary into primary care for elderly patients and developing a ‘rule’ for managing abnormal test results in out-of-hours primary care.