Pioneer Project wins national award

Picture of MJ awards ceremony
Pictured is Jay Stickland of Royal Borough of Greenwich; Jane Wells, Director of Adult Community Health Services, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Dr Rebecca Rosen and Cllr David Gardner

Our integrated system of health and social care in Greenwich has won a top national award for innovation in social care.

In partnership with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the voluntary sector and Greenwich CCG we scooped first place at the Local Authority Municipal Journal Awards for Innovation in Social Care.

The award category looked at the most innovative partnership projects and programmes to improve the quality of social care, reduce overall costs and deliver greater independence for users.

In partnership with Royal Borough of Greenwich, our joint teams include:

  • A joint contact centre - single point of access that immediately addresses user needs and manages referral pathways for social care, community rehabilitation or intermediate care services
  • A joint emergency team (JET) - immediate responses to prevent unnecessary hospital admission and community and urgent social care referrals (including safeguarding)
  • Hospital integrated discharge team (HID) - speedy discharge to intermediate/social care
  • Three community assessment and rehabilitation teams (CARS) - offering up to six weeks' rehabilitation and on-going social care linked to the homecare re-ablement service

Jane Wells, Director of Adult Community Health Services at Oxleas said: "The Greenwich Pioneer Project is a shining example of joint working to provide better support at home and earlier treatment in the community. I am thrilled for everyone involved in this project, to have their hard work and achievements recognised and rewarded in this way."

Against tough competition, we had to demonstrate to judges a number of outcomes including: collaborative working with partners, a culture of quality and continuous improvement, services designed around the needs of service users and carers, innovation in care and support, long-term efficiency savings and best practice

Integrating care services is about organisations including the NHS, councils and the voluntary sector working closely together to deliver services tailored to individual patients' needs by sharing information and resources, communicating regularly and effectively and avoiding duplication.

Published on 20th June 2014