The Annual Integrated Care Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion of the science, knowledge or application of integrated care in policy and practice around the world was presented to Dr Jose Carlos Molina Hinojosa and his team from the Alt Penedès Region of Catalonia in Spain. The prize of €1,000 is supported by IFIC. In the last five years, with colleagues from the regional primary care, hospital and long-term care and social services, they have co-ordinated and designed a programme to address the needs of chronic-complex patients. The programme’s objective is to provide integrated health care to complex chronic patients in a community environment, while promoting maximum autonomy for the individual while integrating existing local resources. Results from the programme show a favourable trend in reducing specialized healthcare resources and an increase in the use of primary health care resource; a reduction in emergency and overall hospital admissions; and their proactive approach to care has proved to be efficient in controlling exacerbations and complications, allowing care givers to adapt the resources to the patient profile and the clinical and social complexity. The approach has proved influential at a policy level in Catalonia to support the region’s integrated care strategy. Download the presentation from ICIC15.
Watch Catalonia TV3 Programme discussing the Alt Penedes Experience
The prize for best poster (€500 supported by IFIC) was presented to second year Master’s student, Jessica Ashbourne from the University of Waterloo in Canada for her work on transitional care for persons with dementia and their caregivers. Jessica’s research interests include quality of care and quality of life for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, system navigation and care transitions. She is currently in the process of developing dementia strategies for two regions of Ontario, Canada.
The runner up prize (€250 supported by IFIC) was awarded to Volletta Peters, Director of Tenant and Member Services at Mainstay Housing, the largest provider of supportive housing in Canada. Volletta focuses on using innovative methods to assist individuals with complex mental health and addiction issues maintain stable housing and improve their quality of life.
Congratulations to all our winners!
Fiona Lyne
Director of Communications
International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)