Bridging the gap: how care closer to home and different delivery methods of treatments can tackle health inequalities

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This article has been initiated and funded by Roche Products Ltd. Roche are fully responsible for the content.

The UK, along with other similar countries, faces increasing health disparities, upcoming panels at the Labour and Conservative party conferences will explore how localised healthcare models and more equitable access to healthcare can help reduce these inequalities.

Health inequalities persist with life expectancy, chronic disease rates, and access to healthcare varying widely. This year's Labour and Conservative party conferences will feature an expert panel discussing a key solution: bringing care closer to home through innovative delivery methods that reduce reliance on hospital-based care. 

The panel will bring together leading voices from the NHS, government, and patient advocacy groups. They will explore the potential of community-based care models and the need to develop the infrastructure at a community level to enable care closer to home that can help address inequalities e.g. rurality.

Tackling the Root Causes of Inequality
Socioeconomic status, education, housing, and even access to healthcare can all have a significant impact on an individual’s health. By bringing healthcare into communities and making use of treatments that reduce the need for hospital visits, ICSs and Providers can work together to better provide care to their populations.

For instance, oral therapies for chronic conditions allow patients to manage their health more easily at home, reducing the financial and emotional burden of frequent hospital visits. This is particularly important for individuals who may face barriers to accessing hospital-based care, such as those who have difficulty getting around, those living in remote areas, or those who cannot afford the time or cost of travel.

A Shift Towards Localised Care
The concept of care closer to home is not new, but its relevance has never been greater. As we look to the future the NHS will need to set itself up to appropriately support and manage an ageing population and a growing number of patients with complex long-term conditions and the delivery of care in a community setting and closer to home will be a key element in delivering this.

Innovative treatments and different modes of treatment delivery, such as subcutaneous injections for conditions traditionally treated with intravenous (IV) therapies in hospitals, can play a role in this shift. By transitioning certain treatments from IV infusions, which require hospital visits, to subcutaneous injections that can sometimes be administered at home, healthcare providers can free up capacity in infusion suites, reduce waiting times, and make care more convenient for patients. Working together to provide the right services to the right patients in the right place can free up resources in hospitals and specialist centres to spend their time on the more specialised services that can only be delivered in more complex settings.

Roche, along with other biopharma companies, are proud to have brought innovations for UK patients that can allow different methods of administration that allows for greater care in the community.

Innovation in Delivery Models
The panel will also discuss innovative delivery models that are being implemented across the UK to bring care closer to home. One such model is the use of multidisciplinary community health teams, which bring together GPs, nurses, social workers, and other professionals to provide coordinated care for patients with complex needs. These teams work closely with local authorities and community organisations to ensure that patients receive holistic care that addresses both their medical and social needs.

Incorporating localised treatment models may reduce the need for hospital-based interventions and allow healthcare professionals to focus on broader community health needs. Moreover, digital health technologies, such as remote monitoring tools and telemedicine, complement these treatments by enabling patients to receive care and manage their conditions from home, further empowering them to take an active role in their health.

As care closer to home is implemented more widely it will be important to ensure that it doesn’t exacerbate existing inequalities.

Challenges and Opportunities
While the benefits of care closer to home and innovative treatments and modes of delivery are clear, the panel will not shy away from discussing the challenges associated with this approach. This includes not only investing in new technology and infrastructure but also ensuring that healthcare professionals are trained to deliver these advanced treatments in non-hospital settings.

Lord Darzi supports this position in his recent report as he highlights that one of the main obstacles is the need for adequate funding and resources to support the transition from hospital-based to community-based care.

The Role of Policy
The Kings Fund has identified that there needs to be more alignment between policy and vision so that funding, regulation, workforce and performance policies match the intention and this panel will examine the role of policy in supporting care closer to home and the adoption of innovative treatments and delivery models.

The upcoming panel discussion at the Labour and Conservative party conferences promises to be part of a critical conversation about the future of healthcare in the UK. By bringing together a diverse range of perspectives, it will provide valuable insights into how care closer to home, bolstered by innovative treatments and delivery models, can help to reduce health inequalities and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to lead a healthy life.

We believe that by bringing together key voices from across the health and care sector we can collectively work to solve these challenges and make care closer to home a reality that enables better access to healthcare particularly for those underserved communities. We hope that the ideas and strategies discussed at this panel could serve as a blueprint for a more equitable and effective healthcare system.

If you are attending the Labour or Conservative party conference, please come along or follow @TotalPolitics to continue the conversation. Alternatively, please visit The Health & Care Forum website for more information.

Material number: M-GB-00019338 Date of Preparation: September 2024

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