Four of the UK’s major accommodation based care and support providers are joining forces to argue the case housing can play in improving the NHS.
Family Mosaic, Home Group, Midland Heart and Riverside have joined together to press the case for a greater role for housing providers in supporting the NHS to work more efficiently and plug a £30 billion funding gap due appear by 2020.
The four organisations will be jointly appearing at the NHS Confederation Conference in June where they will put forward the case for making significant savings through greater integration between health, social care and housing.
Almost one third of NHS hospital bed days are taken up by patients who could have avoided being admitted had they received appropriate care and support at an earlier stage.
Mark Henderson, Home Group Chief Executive said: “Seeing four of the biggest providers in the sector join together to call for change is a very positive move. By uniting and speaking with collective voices we hope to convince government and health stakeholders of the need for a more integrated approach and the efficiency savings it would bring.”
Delivering care in people’s homes could deliver £3.4 billion in productivity savings.
Ruth Cooke, Midland Heart Chief Executive said: “We’re proud to be part of this unique and important collaboration. Together we can give a loud and clear message on the value and efficiency savings of integrating health and housing services.
“Too much is at stake if our health services don’t deliver, for our most vulnerable customers it’s not just their health but also their dignity, enjoyment and quality of life.”
Carol Matthews, Riverside Chief Executive, said: “Inevitably it is the poorest and most excluded in society that suffer from the greatest levels of health inequalities.
“Many of the people who use our housing services are in need of health support. So by working in a more integrated way housing associations can provide early interventions that make a positive difference to tens of thousands of people and by doing this we can also ease the burden and costs on NHS services.”
Brendan Sarsfield, Family Mosaic Chief Executive, said: “We want to positively influence the health and wellbeing of our residents. We are working in partnership to have greater influence in the NHS world and support the plans to provide effective, efficient care outside hospitals.
“As social landlords we are well placed to help people be active in their community, improve their own health and save the NHS money.”
