The North West London Integrated Care Pilot: innovative strategies to improve care coordination for older adults and people with diabetes.
The North West London Integrated Care Pilot (ICP) was launched in June 2011 and brings together more than 100 general practices, 2 acute care trusts, 5 primary care trusts, 2 mental health care trusts, 3 community health trusts, 5 local authorities, and 2 voluntary sector organizations (Age UK and Diabetes UK) to improve the coordination of care for a pilot population of 550 000 people. Specifically, the ICP serves people older than 75 years and those with diabetes. Although still in the early stages of implementation, the ICP has already received national awards for its innovations in design and delivery. This article critically describes the ICP objectives, facilitating processes, and planned impact as well as the organizational and financial challenges that policy makers are facing in the implementation of the pilot program.
Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. m.harris@imperial.ac.uk
Matthew
M
Harris
Felix
F
Greaves
Sue
S
Patterson
Jessica
J
Jones
Yannis
Y
Pappas
Azeem
A
Majeed
Josip
J
Car
D000368:Aged; D054976:Clinical Governance; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000628:therapy*; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008131:London; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D018511:Systems Integration