Singapore health colleagues visit Washwood Heath to study neighbourhood health
Healthcare professionals from the National University Health System, Singapore, recently visited the East Birmingham locality hub in Washwood Heath to learn about the city's innovative approach to creating a neighbourhood health service.
Neighbourhood health is about shifting care closer to home and joining up services across local government, social care, and the voluntary sector.
During their visit the trio visited the care co-ordination centre and the Respiratory Same Day Emergency Care and Heart Failure clinics. They also observed how GPs, social workers, mental health practitioners, social prescribers, clinical health practitioners and voluntary sector partners work as a single, unified team to support residents with more complex needs.
The hosts shared the locality and neighbourhood health model that has been developed by the Birmingham and Solihull (BSol) healthcare system and how this is addressing the wider determinants of health, such as housing and social isolation, alongside medical treatment.
Also shared were the governance and data-sharing models that have also been developed that allow multi-organisational teams to coordinate care at a neighbourhood level in real-time.
Stephanie Tham, Senior Assistant Manager, Community Operations, Regional Health System Office, at the National University Health System, Singapore said: “Learning more about locality hubs across Birmingham and Solihull as well as the work of the integrated neighbourhood teams has been eye-opening. In Singapore, we are working towards delivering integrated health-social care in the community and Birmingham's ability to weave social prescribing and community partnerships into the medical model offers a powerful blueprint for refining our population health approach.”
After visiting Washwood Heath, the team moved on to our headquarters at Priestley Wharf to visit the Single Point of Access team where they chatted about urgent community response and other services.
The visitors are participating in the International Integrated Care Conference. Taking place in Birmingham from 13-15 April, the conference brings together more than 1,000 global health and care leaders to share innovations in policy, practice, and the integration of health and social care services.