BIRMINGHAM

Press Release

NEW APPROACH TO BETTER HEALTH FOR BIRMINGHAM
Birmingham OwnHealth®: Helping People Take Control Of Their Own Health

Birmingham, 27 September 2005: Up to two thousand people in Birmingham diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart failure or diabetes will be able to get personalised healthcare support from next year, to help them take better control of their medical condition and stay fitter and healthier.

Birmingham OwnHealth® is the first care management programme of its kind in the UK and will be delivered as a partnership between the North and Eastern Birmingham Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), UK Pfizer Health Solutions (UK PHS) and NHS Direct.

Individuals enrolled in the programme will receive structured and personalised support over the telephone from a dedicated care manager, who will be a fully trained and experienced nurse employed by NHS Direct. Care managers will help people to get the best health outcomes from the treatment programmes already agreed between that individual and their GP and/or other healthcare professionals.

Under the programme, people will be helped to:

• better understand their own medical condition.
• acquire the skills, knowledge and habits they need in order to stay fit and healthy and prevent additional health complications.
• correctly follow treatment programmes as prescribed by their GP and/or other healthcare professionals, and
• understand how to engage and use local NHS services more effectively.

The Government and the NHS recognise the benefits that improved self care can bring to individuals and their families, as well as clinicians, healthcare professionals and the wider NHS. It also plays an important role in helping to address the growing impact that managing long term conditions has on healthcare services and resources. ¹

Andrew Donald, Director of Policy and Redesign for North and Eastern Birmingham PCTs said: "Birmingham OwnHealth^® is an important step forward in giving local people greater control over their health and well-being. It will encourage and empower them to take action to stay well. This is a ground-breaking partnership and a practical example of how NHS bodies can work with private organisations with the right expertise, to provide flexible new services tailored to individual lifestyles and circumstances, delivering personalised care."

Dr Mike Sadler, Medical Director for NHS Direct, added: "NHS Direct nurses play a major role in supporting and helping people with long term conditions. It is their experience that once outside their GP surgery, many people want an additional source of support and advice. This new partnership extends our contribution even further. Birmingham OwnHealth^®’s dedicated care managers will proactively reach out into the community, helping and encouraging people to follow personalised health plans, learn how to best manage their own condition and ultimately enjoy a better, healthier, quality of life."

John Procter, Head of UK Pfizer Health Solutions, said: "Birmingham OwnHealth^® will deliver an integrated package of care management. Innovative partnerships such as this one, can play a crucial role in helping the NHS shift from being a ‘sick’ care system towards a patient-centred ‘health’ care system. It will deliver benefits to all - individuals and their families, clinicians and healthcare professionals, and the wider NHS."

Cynthia Bower, Managing Director of Birmingham and Black Country Strategic Health Authority (BBCSHA), which is sponsoring the Birmingham OwnHealth^® programme commented: "Establishing new ways to provide proactive support to help people better manage their own conditions is a specific objective of BBCSHA, as set out in our 2004 Wider View Strategy. BBCSHA has helped to foster the partnership between the PCTs, UK PHS and NHS Direct to develop this new service for local people and help us to realise our overall strategic aims."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Birmingham OwnHealth^® will provide personalised care management support for up to 2000 people with cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart failure and diabetes, living in the Oscott, Kingstanding, Washwood Heath and Bordesley Green areas of Birmingham. The programme will run for 12 months.
2. Under the programme, the full time care managers, employed by NHS Direct, will call individuals at pre-arranged times, as often as is needed for each person, to provide advice, help and encouragement or prompt them on specific aspects of their treatment programme. GPs and healthcare professionals can also encourage people to call their care manger if they need additional support and advice, on those occasions when a visit to the GP is not essential.
3. Care managers will be supported by UK PHS’s extensively developed disease management software platform, which assists in creating and delivering individual, tailored care plans for each person, in line with national and local clinical guidelines and protocols. This technology has been used in delivering large scale, innovative disease management programmes in the US over the past ten years.
4. Recruitment of individuals will begin early next year, prior to the programme commencing in Spring 2006. Under the programme’s design, defined outcomes will be identified and agreed, including disease registration, clinical improvement and the impact on local health services. Ongoing independent measurement towards these targets will take place throughout the programme.
5. Seventeen and a half million people in the UK today (29 percent of the population) are living with a long-term medical condition², such as CVD, heart disease or diabetes. Long-term medical conditions are currently associated with about 80 percent of GP consultations and account for 60 percent of bed days in hospitals³.
6. In Birmingham, 27 percent of people have a limiting long-standing illness.⁴ Birmingham has the highest standardised mortality rate from cardiovascular disease in the West Midlands. Birmingham Health Authority has the 25th highest standardised mortality rate from Diabetes in England. Mortality rates for those age groups between 25 and 85 in the Eastern Birmingham PCT wards, are higher than the Birmingham average. A third of these deaths result from diseases of the circulatory system.⁵
7. According to the Department of Health improved self-care can result in a 40 percent reduction in the number of primary care consultations; a 17 percent reduction in visits to outpatients and a 50 percent reduction in A&E visits⁶.

About NHS Direct:

NHS Direct provides confidential health advice and information through four channels of service:

• The NHS Direct telephone service utilises the skills of experienced nurses and professional health advisors and has handled over 25million calls since its inception as a national service in 1999.
• The NHS Direct self-help guide in the back of Thomson Local directory has now been delivered to more than 18million homes.
• NHS Direct Online was launched in 1999 and currently receives circa 1million visitors each month.
• NHS Direct Interactive is available to 7.5million digital satellite viewers by pressing the interactive button on their remote control.

About UK Pfizer Heath Solutions:

UK Pfizer Health Solutions (UK PHS) is a group within Pfizer Limited that operates independently of the medicines business. UK PHS believes that self-care increases individuals’ abilities to manage their chronic conditions because when individuals are more educated, involved and empowered they interact more effectively with their healthcare providers and embrace those lifestyle behaviours that promote healthier outcomes. UK PHS supports the future of the NHS and recognises that self-care is vital for an effective, efficient and reliable health service. Pfizer Health Solutions has ten years experience of delivering disease management solutions to the US and partnerships have been made with a range of health insurers, managed care organisations and public providers.

¹Department of Health (2005), Self Care- A Real Choice: Self Care Support - A Practical Option. London COI

²Department of Health (2005), Self Care- A Real Choice: Self Care Support - A Practical Option. London COI

³Department of Health (2005), Self Care- A Real Choice: Self Care Support - A Practical Option. London COI

⁴Department of Health (2004), The Health Survey for England: Health and Lifestyle Indicators for Strategic Health Authorities 1994 - 2002. Crown Copyright

⁵Eastern Birmingham Primary Care Trust (April 2005), Commissioning Strategy 2005/2006 - 2007-2008. www.easternbirminghampct.nhs.uk (Links on this website will allow you to connect with sites that are not under Pfizer’s control. Pfizer is providing these links only as a convenience. Please be aware that Pfizer is not responsible or liable for the content or information collection practices of those third party websites or any products or services advertised or sold on those websites. You access the third party website at your own risk.)

⁶Department of Health (2005), Self Care- A Real Choice: Self Care Support - A Practical Option. London COI