I can never write about this issue too much. If we want to really control health care costs, we must use several strategies, one of which is increased accessability of primary care. This British report makes the problem clear – 1m ‘yo-yo in and out of hospital’
About 15m people in the country have long-term conditions such as heart disease and respiratory illnesses such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Researchers said repeat admissions from these people were costing the NHS £2.3bn a year and the situation was set to get worse as the population aged in the next few decades.
The study said the burden falls disproportionately from area to area with some primary care trusts having less than 1,000 emergency admissions by these “high impact users”, compared to others with up to 10,000.
GPs and community matrons needed more accessible information about who was at risk of being admitted to hospital, it added.
What I see at the VA hospital is patients who cannot find primary care – and thus their problems worsen until they require admission. Good front line care does make a huge difference for patients.
But for primary care to succeed we will have to shift moneys towards primary care and away from other health care expenditures. It can work – but do we have anyone making financial decisions about health care who really understands?