NHS trusts – The original intention was that all hospitals would seek to meet the financial and quality thresholds necessary to achieve foundation trust status. It is now accepted that there will remain a significant number of trusts that are unlikely to achieve the necessary degree of financial sustainability. Consequently there are still 61 hospital non-foundation trusts Private hospitals – Patient choice enables NHS patients to be referred to private hospitals across England for elective care where appropriate. The cost of most acute hospital care is calculated using the national Payment by Results tariff. This is a misnomer as payment is based on the volume of treatments given and procedures undertaken with no reference to the quality of the resulting outcome. This system is generally thought to be unsustainable in the medium term as the growth in patient numbers has increased the overall cost of acute hospital care compared with primary care for which payment is based largely on the number of registered patients rather than the number of patients seen. Mental Health Care Mental health care in England is provided by a range of different types of organisation: Foundation trusts –currently 42 specialist MH FTs NHS trusts – 17 non- FT’s deliver specialist mental health care Social enterprises –a small number of specialist MH social enterprises Private providers – A number of private companies have contracts to deliver elements of mental health provision Payment for mental health services is mainly via annually negotiated block contracts with an agreed cost for a specified volume of care. Community Health Services Health services in a community setting such as community nursing and various therapy services are provided by a range of organisations: Foundation trusts – There are three specialist community foundation trusts although in many other areas community services are provided by hospital and mental health foundation trusts NHS trusts – There are 14 specialist community NHS trusts Social enterprises – There are a small number of social enterprises that specialise in the provision of community care Voluntary sector providers – A number of well known national charities and voluntary organisations as well as local groups provide community services particularly in areas such as end of life care Private providers – There are a growing number of examples of private companies securing contracts for the provision of community services. Payment for community services is normally based on block contracts for specified volumes of work. Ambulance and Patient Transport Services
Your spotlight on local services Who are Healthwatch? Supporting the network of local Healthwatch organisations is Healthwatch England, which has been set up to give a national voice to the key issues that affect people who use health and social care services. Healthwatch England has been established as a statutory committee of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Details of local structures and how it is set up How can you get involved? Healthwatch Rotherham is keen to hear your views and experiences so that it can continue to build a picture of the issues affecting local people. Healthwatch Rotherham would also like to hear from anyone who would like to become a Healthwatch volunteer. Volunteering opportunities include: • helping with public engagement activities. • visiting local health and social care services as part of a small team to ensure they are delivering a good quality service For more information or to share your views and experiences, contact the Healthwatch team at: 01709 717130 For information about local health and social care services and how to access them call XXXXXXXXX. Independent Complaints Advocacy (ICA) Free and independent service which supports people through the NHS complaints process to seek an explanation, an apology or to ask for a service to be improved.