Thursday 28 March
11:00-12:15

Part A: Town and Country – quantifying hospital harm in rural and urban New Zealand

One in six New Zealanders live in small towns and rural areas served by local hospitals. This research investigates differences in hospital harm experienced by people living in rural and urban communities. Secondary analysis of 3 years’ retrospective General Practice records review data investigating patient harm allowed the admission rate and rate of harms from hospital admissions for people living in rural and urban communities to be calculated. Differences between the two groups were explored.

After this session, participants will be able to:

1. Appreciate the New Zealand health care context
2. Understand differences in patterns of hospital admissions and hospital harms for people living in rural and urban settings in New Zealand
3. Reflect on how this information may apply to their local health care system

Carol Atmore, General Practitioner Researcher, Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Dunedin; New Zealand

Part B: Being Here – building sustainability in remote and rural communities

Being Here describes living, working and sustaining local communities and developing models of care that are co produced with local people and partners to be resilient and adaptable. It was a piece of action research. A remote island example illustrates how engagement and development approaches successfully create sustainable models that build capacity and capability in the community. Learning from Nuka, bespoke training programmes were developed and local health and care support workers employed. Building Relationship, trust and local leadership were key to success.

After this session, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the challenges of providing health and care services in remote and rural communities
2. Understand how crucial these services are to wider sustainability of those communities and the socio economic responsibility that statutory agencies have in these circumstances
3. Consider how this learning can be transferred to other communities both rural and urban

Gill McVicar, Director of Transformation and Quality Improvement, NHS Highland; Scotland

Part C: NHS Near Me: going digital to deliver services closer to patients

Every year, thousands of patients travel from distant locations across the Scottish Highlands to attend out-patient appointments at a central hospital. Patients said this travel was unacceptable so NHS Highland created NHS Near Me. A systematic quality improvement approach was taken to develop and test this new digital service, before a standard process was agreed. That process is now being scaled up, so NHS Near Me becomes business as usual to deliver patient-centred care.

After this session, participants will be able to:
1. Consider how new digital technology can be used to make care more patient-centred and family-centred
2. Describe how service development benefits from a quality improvement approach
3. Understand how NHS Near Me works, and how the service model can be applied to multiple care settings in any country

Clare Morrison, Senior Clinical Quality Lead, NHS Highland; Scotland