Last September, encouraged by the Queens Nursing Institute, I applied to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for a Travelling Fellowship to allow me to learn how communities around the world are improving population health and wellbeing. Over 1000 applications were received and I am delighted to say that I have become a 2018 Churchill Fellow and will use this blog to record my experiences during the year ahead.
I live in Guernsey in the Channel islands which is in the English Channel but nearer France than England. We are a Crown Dependency but have our own assembly called the States of Guernsey. Our health and care system is completely different to the UK. With a population of around 62K, we have the potential to design systems that mean people in our islands live the happy, healthy and purposeful lives in engaged and prosperous communities.
We have the same challenges as most developed countries in trying to meet the increasing demand for health and care. I hope we can stop seeing this as a negative but find new ways of harnessing the potential for older people in our community to help us build thriving communities. A Partnership of Purpose is being created which will need courage and creative thinking to succeed. I applied for the Fellowship because I wanted to connect with communities who have started to think and work differently around community health and wellbeing.
I plan to visit Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska and Canterbury District Health Board in Christchuch, New Zealand. Both of these organisations have been cited by the Kings Fund as exemplars of new ways of working.
My first trip will be to Anchorage in June to learn about the Nuka System of Care. I have been interested in the Southcentral Foundation since reading about their improvement journey through the Kings Fund. I attended a Masterclass in 2016 where Steve & Michelle Tierney explained the history behind the system redesign and the fundamental shift made to put the customer in charge of the health system. What was interesting to hear was how with this came a personal responsibility to health and wellbeing that reached across the community. I was fascinated to hear how prioritisation happens and what this means for population health.
My second trip will be to Canterbury District Health Board in Christchurch. This area of New Zealand had already begun on a journey of transformation when a devastating earthquake caused a crisis in the health and care system which accelerated the rate of change. The Canterbury model is fascinating because of how they have achieved integrated care through a single unifying “one vision, one budget’ approach, finding new ways of working with a clear aim of increasing community care to keep people well and healthy in their own homes. On the face of it there are many similarities between Canterbury District and Guernsey so I am excited to be able to make connections we can learn from.
I am incredibly grateful to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Burdett Trust for this once in a lifetime opportunity and I can’t wait to get started!
Care Connections 