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<p>The NHS Five Year Forward View set out the ambition that over the next five years
and beyond, the traditional boundaries between general practitioners (GPs) and hospitals,
social care and mental health services will be dissolved, in recognition of the fact
that rather than a single episode of care, people increasingly need a range of services
over a longer period, organised around their specific needs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>A number of established initiatives are already driving this, such as the Better
Care Fund, where councils and clinical commissioning groups are required to pool a
proportion of their respective budgets and spend this on the joined-up provision of
health and care services, and improved communication between general practice and
other sectors, with many GPs now providing dedicated phone lines and timely access
for staff in other care settings to contact them for advice.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>Key to supporting the closer working of GPs and other sectors are the 29 vanguard
geographies that were announced in March this year. These bring home care, mental
health and community nursing, GP services and hospitals together for the first time
since 1948.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>- 14 multispecialty community providers
are moving care out of hospitals into the community by bringing together GPs and specialists,
for example those who work in mental health;</p><p> </p><p>- nine integrated primary
and acute care systems are joining together GP, hospital, community and mental health
services;</p><p> </p><p>- six sites covering enhanced health in care homes are offering
older people better, joined up health, care and rehabilitation services.</p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p>Together with other vanguard sites looking at coordinated urgent and
emergency care, and the acute care collaboration sites that will be announced later
this year, it is estimated that the vanguards will benefit more than five million
patients, and they will take the national lead on the development of innovative care
models.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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