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Health Coaching Programme At Leicester City Ccg Averts 22 Hospital Admissions In First Seven Weeks

-COPD health coaching from Totally Health integrated within Leicester City's local health pathway delivers health benefits and cost savings through patient behavioural awareness and self-care-

A 12-month integrated health coaching and telehealth service has averted 22 hospital admissions among a group of only 30 patients in the first seven weeks of the scheme. The programme, run by Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivered by Totally Health, selected the patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for the initial programme, with a further 20 patients to be introduced to the initiative over the next four weeks. The health coaching and telehealth service has averted 22 hospital admissions* across this group of patients in these first seven weeks.

Totally Health is providing Leicester City's selected COPD patients with a two way health coaching service, using registered nurses who help the patient manage their condition by providing mentoring and support via phone calls and telehealth monitoring.

Currently, a single unscheduled hospital admission through A&E costs £4,066. During the 12 months prior to the scheme, COPD patients experienced, on average, 3.49 unscheduled hospital admissions. Prior to the programme being launched in December 2012, Leicester City had set a target of 70 unscheduled admissions to be averted during the whole 12 month period.

Emma-Jane Roberts, Programme Manager, Leicester City CCG, comments, "We wanted to be able to give our patients access to qualified, specialist advice services to shift the balance and focus from a model that responds to illness to one which promotes health and well-being. The early success of the programme is an indication that health coaching, combined with telehealth monitoring, really works to support people in managing their own conditions and understand how small changes in their lifestyle might make a big difference to them."

Totally Health's health coaching service is built upon proven research methods, which can be seen in a trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine 2010 by Dr David Wennberg and colleagues. The study looked at 174,120 subjects to assess the effect of telephone care-management strategy on medical costs and resource utilisation. The results of the study demonstrated that the intervention reduced hospital admission by 10.1%, creating significant cost savings.

Leicester City CCG's COPD health coaching programme utilises the 'LUCY' system for long term condition management, combined with access to a COPD Patient Decision Aid (PDA) that has been developed by Totally Health. The system enables the information the nurses take in through health coaching, plus any data that arrives through telehealth monitoring, to be entered into an integrated system so the health coach can be alerted to anything that looks out of range and send a notification to the relevant GP or hospital consultant who is linked to the patient. It also provides a valuable alternative and an opportunity for patients to discuss the longer-term management and implications of their condition - and the care options available to them.

Emma-Jane Roberts adds, "The programme is testament to how services external to the NHS and those within it can be integrated successfully to not only deliver high quality care to patients, but - when managed appropriately within the local care pathway - can transform the way in which patients with long term conditions are managed proactively."

She continues, "For example, when the bad weather and snow hit early in January, through the health coaching service we were able to give the patients we identified as being most at risk proactive advice on what to do. It has really helped individuals feel involved and in control which improves self-esteem and can elevate self-efficacy."

Professor Azhar Farooqi, GP and chair for the Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "The success of this new system is fantastic news for patients. We fully support innovation and working with service providers outside of the NHS to help us deliver the enormity of the long term conditions agenda."

Dr Durairaj, GP and Lead for COPD for the Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "Our patients get the support of managing their own condition at home. We know patients are happier and recover quicker when their care is managed at home. We are really pleased that the scheme is working and the project has enabled patients to avoid an A&E stay."

Wendy Lawrence, CEO, Totally Health, concludes, "Totally Health is really pleased to be supporting Leicester City CCG's Innovation Programme. At this early stage, it is wonderful that our services are making a real difference to the patients involved. We will continue to work with these patients and those yet to come on to the programme, their GPs, Carers and other health professionals to ensure a seamless service is provided that brings about real improvements in day to day life."

ENDS

*Notes to Editors: An admission is qualified as 'averted' based on a measure of the respiratory specialist nurse and/or the health coach providing an intervention to support the individual patient to manage their condition, to the extent that without this clinical support the patient would have been admitted. If the patient is not admitted for a period 14 days, after the 14th day the intervention is classified as a saved hospital admission.

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