Hewitt review: the case for ‘glaziers’
Hewitt review: the case for ‘glaziers’
We are pleased to see three key themes coming through loud and clear in the Hewitt Review.
At IMPOWER we are always thinking with our clients about how to act innovatively to improve outcomes. The pandemic has forced everyone in public services to innovate at pace – to take positive risks with new solutions in order to secure the outcomes that matter.
Virtual care is a good example of this, and we recently held an online Q&A to reflect on recent developments in the UK and Australia. In both countries, system leaders responded to the Covid outbreak by rolling out virtual care at an unprecedented pace and scale.
We were very fortunate to have three expert speakers:
In the Q&A, both Miranda and John reflected that the outbreak of Covid had accelerated conversations about virtual care that had been going on for some time. Virtual and digitally-supported health and social care were already in use, but the pandemic changed the risk profile of service delivery almost overnight. As a result, virtual tools suddenly became pragmatic enablers of care delivery. An example of the pace of change is that the Royal Prince Alfred Virtual Hospital went from having 69 patients at launch in February 2020 to supporting over 2,000 patients just two months later.
It was also striking that in both Australia and the UK there had been a strong emphasis on monitoring impact. In the context of a rapidly evolving situation, it was important to do this – recognising that impact should be considered from care recipient and provider perspectives – both in terms of outcomes and experience. In both cases impact measurements were data driven, but also focused on qualitative indicators of how users experienced this new model of care. John’s teams in East Riding started daily conference calls with all their care homes to make sure the virtual care was accessible and supportive.
Some of the other key discussion points included:
Looking to the future, the challenge is to build on the learning from the UK and Australian examples, and others like them. The pandemic accelerated change, but it is now down to all of us to continue this spirit of innovation and grow the adoption of virtual health and social care. Jonathan asked us all to be prepared for failures as we increase virtual care, and to use failure as an opportunity to learn. He also pointed out that the evidence base for virtual care is growing – but is not complete yet. We need to support systems to use virtual care and learn about it in real time.
At IMPOWER we are inspired by how health and care systems have stood up to the challenge of the moment and embraced virtual care in the face of the pandemic. Now is the time to embrace and expand upon what has been achieved over the last year.