Co-creating Health

About Co-creating Health

The Health Foundation wants to see self management support become embedded as a core part of how health services are provided in the NHS. However we know this will require a whole-system approach to change. That’s why we have invested over £5million in our Co-creating Health programme, aiming to transform care for people with long term conditions.

The programme focuses on three equally important factors which determine how much individuals are able to play an active role in managing their own health:

• Giving people with long term conditions the skills, confidence and support to self manage.
• Helping clinicians to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude to support and motivate people with long term conditions.
• Changing health systems so that they encourage and facilitate self management.

Phase one: testing the model, building skills and evidence

The first phase of the Co-creating Health programme ran from 2007–10. During this phase the Health Foundation worked with eight NHS sites to demonstrate the best way to establish self management support at the heart of mainstream healthcare.

Spanning primary and secondary care, the sites worked in pairs to focus on one of four clinical areas: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression, diabetes and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Following the Co-creating model, three training and information programmes were delivered across all sites:

• Self Management Programme (SMP) – this supports people with long term conditions to develop the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to manage their condition while working in partnership with their clinicians. This includes problem-solving and action planning, which help people increase their confidence and self management skills.
• Advanced Development Programme (ADP) – this supports clinicians to develop the skills required to support and motivate people to take an active role in their own health.
• Service Improvement Programme (SIP) – this supports the Co-creating Health sites to change and improve the way their health services are designed and operated so that they better support self management. As well as providing information it is designed to build skills and capability to ensure improvement lasts beyond the life of the programme.

Each of these information and training programmes focused on the three enablers: goal setting, shared agenda setting and goal follow up.

Phase two: sustaining and spreading the approach

In January 2011 we moved into the second phase of the programme, which will run until August 2012.  Seven of the original eight sites are continuing to work with us to:

• achieve local sustainability of the Co-creating Health model through the commitment and ownership of local commissioners and providers
• secure the spread of the Co-creating Health model to a wider population.

We also want to promote the spread of the Co-creating Health approach by:

• creating a group of clinical and non-clinical leaders who will champion the Co-creating Health approach
• showcasing our work and learning to decision makers at all levels, from central government to local NHS management and frontline clinicians
• developing materials and information that will support and enable others to adopt the Co-creating Health approach.

Dates

Co-creating Health was launched in September 2007 and consists of two phases:

Phase one: build skills and evidence

The first phase ran from September 2007 until August 2010. We gave eight NHS sites an initial £150,000 and an integrated package of support.

Phase two: sustain and spread the approach

The second phase of the programme began in January 2011 and runs until August 2012, ensuring we can sustain and spread the Co-creating Health approach.

In this phase the sites will commission the Self Management and Advanced Development Programmes directly, in line with an agreed curriculum. The Service Improvement Programme will be led centrally by the PEAKS/PriceWaterhouseCooper partnership.