A number of families living in our community experience many barriers to accessing health and social care. The problems that these families face are highly complex, often spanning over generations, and cannot be addressed by one agency alone.
Greetings! The past quarter has been a time of steady progress in the development of IFIC Australia (IFICA). Following on from what was a highly successful IFIC conference in Utrecht in May, a teleconference meeting of the Partners was held in June while, expressions of interest from new partners are being followed up, IFICA Webinars commenced and planning for an Accelerated Learning Program during the week of Oct 29th this year has been advanced.
Health services globally are under pressure from rising demand and associated fiscal pressures. It has been clear for some time that simply investing in our current hospital focused model of care is not the answer. To realise true value for investment and improve health outcomes we need to work differently.
As I write, the Australian media has been focussing in depth on drought in Australia for two weeks. It is as if those in metropolitan Australia have suddenly realised that rural farmers and communities are experiencing hardship and are at risk of psychological distress and mental illness.
Nine international faculty members, 23 participants from 16 countries, 16 World Cup matches and five days of glorious summer sunshine in Oxford. This was the recipe for the 2018 International Summer School on Integrated Care held at Wolfson College, Oxford, UK in June 2018.
The annual International Summer School on Integrated Care (ISSIC) is a special highlight in IFIC’s calendar and this year’s edition was no exception. Held in the last week of June on the premises of Wolfson College, Oxford, and with glorious summer weather, the intensive residential course brought together the most diverse group so far
Many stakeholders consider integrated care as fundamental in the reform of health and care systems in order to address the challenges associated with population ageing, the rising burden of chronic diseases and constraints in public resources.
SUSTAIN is coming to the end of a three-year collaboration between research partners, policy organizations and 13 clinical sites across nine countries including Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands and the UK
This year’s International Conference on Integrated Care had tremendous provenance for me since it represented IFIC’s 18th birthday as an organisation in its original birthplace in Utrecht. As one of only two of the original members of that initial meeting in Almere to be present (the other being our former Chair, Guus Schrijvers)
Participants of the International Conference on Integrated Care (ICIC) visited Oss during one of the offered site visits in May 2018. Local residents and organizations create new solutions together in the district of Ruwaard, helping themselves and each other. A perfect example of integrated care.
The closing session on May 24 in Nieuwegein/Utrecht of the 18th International Conference on Integrated Care was the end of more than a year closely collaboration with IFIC staff, board, scientific committee. And, without exaggeration, it was a great pleasure! It was the first time that I was a co-host of an international event of this scale
ERIC’s goal is to create a platform for student researchers and young professionals working in, or interested in, the field of integrated care with 0-5 years of experience and/or in the process of doing their Master’s, PhDs or post-docs. Through supporting a community of early-career researchers across organisational and professional boundaries, we hope to not only bring people together to advance the science and knowledge behind integrated care, but also to enhance the adoption of health systems policy and practice.
Brief reflections from the IFIC Study Tour for the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health to Ireland and Catalunya. Recently I had the privilege and pleasure of working with Dr Nick Goodwin co-hosting a study tour for Optimity Advisors and their Client the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health looking at the health systems of Ireland and Catalonia in Spain.
Getting ill oneself is very instructive for a medical doctor (MD). When specializing as a young general practitioner I became quite ill myself. I was taken into hospital and had an operation
In 2008 Machteld Huber reported her research findings to the Health Council and to ZonMw. She had found that there are several possible levels of health. This struck a chord.
Organising comprehensive care for people is important. In healthcare jargon this is known as ‘multidisciplinary or coordinated care’, but this does not really cover it. Nor is the term ‘integrated care’, which connects different realms of life, entirely suitable.
IFIC Australia co-hosted an International Summer School in late March, aimed at supporting organisations to implement their integrated care strategies.
Developed in partnership with North Coast PHN and the Centre for Health Care Knowledge and Innovation, this event in Kingscliff was a sell-out, with a waiting list.
An online search tool to give researchers easy access to internationally published work on different aspects of Integrated Care has been launched.
Developed in partnership with North Coast PHN and the Centre for Health Care Knowledge and Innovation, this event in Kingscliff was a sell-out, with a waiting list.
An increasing number of organisations are looking to affiliate and partner with us, joining the growing ranks of the SW Sydney LHD and PHN, Western Sydney PHN and LHD (see below), North Coast PHN and Centre for Health Knowledge and Innovation, Central Coast LHD, NSW Agency for Innovation (ACI), Children’s Health Queensland and the Mater Research Institute – University of Queensland Centre for Health System Reform and Integration.
Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) is proud to be a new member of the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC). Improving the way health and social policy service partners work together to improve the health and wellbeing of our population is a high priority in western Sydney
I’m writing this blog following a week’s visit to the NSW Central Coast by our friends and colleagues from IFIC Australia and IFIC. These times are strongly valued by our Local Health District and partners because they provide the opportunity to educate our teams, reflect on our integrated care journey to date and to plan the next steps
As a hospital librarian, I have a particular interest in approaches to searching for published literature on complex topics. And Integrated Care is the most complex topic I have tackled to date! In 2015 the Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD) in NSW, Australia, where I work, became a demonstrator site for the NSW Ministry of Health Integrated Care strategy and I was asked to do searches of the biomedical literature to support a number of projects.
We had a fantastic first year for IFIC Scotland. We found a new home in the International Centre for Integrated Care (IC4IC), hosted by the University of the West of Scotland, with IFIC and the Health and Social Care ALLIANCE Scotland as our founding partners, and supported by an enthusiastic cross sector Advisory Board.
CEO Dr Nick Goodwin explains how IFIC’s new service, Integrated Care Solutions©, can support international clients transform current fragmented health systems and implement integrated care.“Over the past few years it has become clear that the integrated care movement has moved beyond making the case for change towards understanding and supporting how best to implement and manage integrated care programmes effectively.
Understanding how integrated delivery and payment models are being implemented is key in an era of value-based healthcare. Integrated care can be compared to a black box that may, or may not provide the ‘out of the box’ solutions needed to help improve patients’ care experiences and health, and to minimise costs
Earlier this month a small team representing the TransForm project landed in Hamburg for a series of site visits just as the temperature dropped to record levels across Europe.
The team, made up of Tinne Vandensande from the King Baudouin Foundation, IFIC’s Director of Education and Training Dr Viktoria Stein and Junior Researcher Henriikka Laurola
Today, 8th March is International Women’s Day and we would like to take the opportunity to once again recognise some of the great women who are advancing the science, knowledge and adoption of Integrated Care around the world. Here is a selection of some of our very best presentations that took place in 2017 from women leaders who are working tirelessly to make excellent patient care and experience a reality for people, their families and communities worldwide.
What is transitional care and how does it related to integrated care?
Transitional care is defined as a set of actions designed to ensure the coordination and continuity of healthcare as patients transfer between different locations or different levels of care within the same location. Transitional care and integrated care are interwoven with integrated care providing the infrastructure for how care is organized and transitional care providing the linkages between settings of care, inclusive of the patient’s home.
Places are filling up fast for this year’s International Summer School on Integrated Care. Aimed at professionals in the field of integrated care, clinicians, researchers and managers, this standalone course provides an intensive one-week of education and training on the theory and practice of Integrated Care.
Chairman of IFIC Australia Professor Peter McGeorge introduces our inaugural newsletter which will be published quarterly and will keep members, partners and colleagues up to date on all our IFIC news. Prof McGeorge is also a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Universities of NSW and Notre Dame (Sydney) and St Vincent’s Health Network.
The NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) and IFIC Scotland held a joint workshop at the recent 1st Asia Pacific Conference on Integrated Care in Brisbane. The session titled ‘It’s All About Outcomes’ explored how to record and use personal outcomes to improve outcomes based consultations. The workshop also discussed how to use Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and outcomes based conversations to enhance the experience and outcomes of care in different care settings and health systems.
Dr Harry Pope talks about his fellowship journey, key learnings and how he will use Integrated Care principles to support, develop and implement programmes that have local relevance.
Places are filling up fast for this year’s International Summer School on Integrated Care. Aimed at professionals in the field of integrated care, clinicians, researchers and managers, this standalone course provides an intensive one-week of education and training on the theory and practice of Integrated Care.
The International Foundation for Integrated Care sees itself supporting a global movement for change towards more integrated care systems that help to significantly improve quality of health and promote wellbeing to people and communities. My experience of the 1st Asia-Pacific Conference on Integrated Care was characterised by just how more appreciative, committed and open people are to thinking differently about health and care
The International Foundation for Integrated Care sees itself supporting a global movement for change towards more integrated care systems that help to significantly improve quality of health and promote wellbeing to people and communities. My experience of the 1st Asia-Pacific Conference on Integrated Care was characterised by just how more appreciative, committed and open people are to thinking differently about health and care
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of attending the International Conference for Integrated Care in Ireland. It was such a great opportunity to participate in, and help create, international partnerships and information exchange. It was an experience that brought home the point that when we break down silos and barriers between countries and jurisdictions, then what’s happening on one side of the world can be put into practice on the other. That’s how change is made.
Over the course of the week from the 3rd to the 7th of July, the sun shone steadily on Wolfson College, Oxford. People were merrily floating on punts down the Cherwell river, flowers were in bloom and students were relaxing on picnic blankets under the shade of weeping willows. Fellow health and social care professionals, …
In May 2017 IFIC was invited to become a content partner on a new joint initiative hosted by the Network of European Foundations entitled the Transnational Forum of Integrated Community Care.
On March 31th, 2017, delegates from the Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland (FG&V) regional hospital from the Netherlands visited North-West London, as part of an international learning exchange. The purpose of the trip was to bring together key physicians from the FG&V region to learn about essential approaches to the design, implementation and funding of integrated care.
This year’s ICIC17 in Dublin was a fantastic experience. The growth in delegate numbers to some 1200 attendees, and the breadth in representation from 54 different countries, demonstrates the international appeal in integrated care as a means to achieving more sustainable health and care systems.