Blog posts
More than structures – the introduction of Regional Health Areas in Ireland Dr Niamh Lennox-Chhugani, Chief Executive, International Foundation for Integrated Care. The Department of Health in Ireland published the long-awaited business case for the establishment of Regional Health Areas (RHAs) this week as Cabinet approved the case. The Chief Executive of the Health…
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Consequences of war for people: destroyed continuity of care now, lack of care provision later Since 24th February 2022, we have all seen the images from Ukraine. At the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC), our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people and most particularly with people living with long-term care needs, their family, carers…
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Developing a new model of information systems and Electronic Health Records in Catalonia Dr Josep Vidal-Alaball, Head of the Central Catalonia Primary Care Innovation and Research Unit, Institut Català de la Salut Catalonia, located in the northeast Spain and with a population of 7.7 million habitants, has a health care system that provides publicly…
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Health and Social Care Reform in Scotland – What Next? A New Year is a time for reflecting on achievements, identifying new goals and making resolutions for the year ahead. This year, our resolutions are all about the 3 Rs: Recovering health, mental wellbeing, social and economic activities for people and communities; Remobilisation of…
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Sing the Change: What A Wonderful World Connected and distant After eighteen months of restrictions and working from home with the daily commute from bedroom to workstation feeling the norm it was time to surface and try something new. For this I joined the Rock Choir and turned up to taster session not really knowing…
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ROUNDING UP THE #NACIC2021 EXPERIENCE After hosting three informative and interactive sessions over a span of four days, our team at CBI Health was excited to be able to exchange ideas at #NACIC2021 with integrated care professionals from all around the world. Our main goal throughout the conference was to show how home care can…
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Reflections of a Patient – “One Of The Team” IFIC has really embraced person-centred care, and I believe this is the first conference I have been to that has such a high proportion of patients and caregivers. 300 of the 1000 attendees were patients or caregivers, which is fantastic. Congratulations to IFIC for making…
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Despite many studies evaluating the effectiveness of integrated care, evidence remains inconsistent. Increasingly, commentary on the subject of integrated care evaluation is pointing out the mismatch between the ability to capture the impact of integrated care initiatives and programmes, and the selection of the most appropriate methodology to do this.
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Over each of the last 8 years, IFIC has been a consortium partner for many EU-funded project with most focusing on older people living with complex health and/ or social care needs. Many of our projects have examined how ICT can enable the delivery of care services and provide better outcomes and experiences for patients,…
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The International Foundation for Integrated Care’s move into digital education came about from years of delivering successful Summer Schools and Accelerated Learning Programmes in Europe and Winter Schools in the Asia Pacific region. Covid19 restrictions meant that our normal timetable of Summer Schools and Accelerated Learning Programmes were to be put on hold for the…
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In July, IFIC Ireland convened its first formal meeting of its Steering Group members. IFIC Ireland Steering Group will help take forward IFIC’s mission and aims across the region on a more sustained basis, and a commitment to advise, discuss and prioritize IFIC Ireland’s future activities in the region. The Steering Group will have a…
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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….. that pretty much sums up 2020. The dreadful global impact of COVID-19 disrupted our workplan but IFIC Scotland still managed to achieve some key milestones. In March we successfully concluded our Transforming Together project with colleagues from São Paulo State Secretary of Health…
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The year 2020 will be forever defined by COVID-19 and its global impact. In Australia – through a mixture of good fortune, a favourable geography, and aggressive policy – the impact has thankfully been orders of magnitude less than most other countries in the world. In terms of the health and care system a long-term…
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IFIC Communications team in conversation with Jodeme Goldhar, Co-Director of IFIC Canada and Treasurer of the Foundation looks back on 2020 and what we have to look forward to for IFIC Canada in 2021. You played a key role in developing the Foundation’s report “Realising the true Value of Integrated Care” – what did your…
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The following presentation of Prof. Áine Carroll, IFIC Ireland co-director and IFIC Board member, describes current lessons learnt in the design and delivering of integrated people-centred health services in Ireland.
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The Health Care Home (HCH) mode was, first implemented in New Zealand in 2011. It was inspired by the Seattle-based Group Health model and adapted for the publicly funded and general practice gatekeeper role in New Zealand. Capital and Coast District Health Board commissioned IFIC to undertake an evaluation of the CCDHB region’s implementation of the Health Care Home model over the July-August 2020 period.
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The twin challenges of last summer’s bushfires, swiftly followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, have exposed critical bottlenecks and vulnerabilities in the Australian health system
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Can we function as one system, identify with the shared values and vision, and believe that everybody can be a partner in the care of each other when many societies structurally impoverish, marginalise, deprive, neglect or abandon some of their communities? The pandemic has highlighted that some communities and groups are systematically neglected and unprotected.
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First, what is integrated mental health care- it is a mental health care system that should encompass clear and seamless care pathways that match the intensity and type of care with the severity and complexity of the illness that people experience over time. For most people living with mental illness in Australia these care pathways are often difficult to find and often unaffordable.
Improving mental health care services has been a focus of the Bupa Health Foundation since its beginnings some 15 years ago.
Integrated care systems and communities provide greater resilience in adapting and coping with such urgent and complex problems. The COVID 19 pandemic may prove to be a catalyst in rethinking how health and care systems work in ways that better protect the vulnerable and are better prepared to cope with emerging systemic shocks.
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