“Looking to the future, we want to join up care by developing community teams further and helping people to build on their skills.
The teams will include GPs as well as different professional groups such as social care, nursing and physiotherapy.
If a person has a long-term condition, such as diabetes or heart failure, they may have a care co-ordinator who can help them to get the advice and care they need.
Together, the person, care co-ordinator and community team will be able to call on expert nurses and other specialists if required to help provide support at home.
We are also seeing the development of the ‘Local Area Co-ordinator’ role.
Using their networks and local knowledge, the co-ordinator can draw on wider community support and help people to improve their health and wellbeing, reduce isolation and reduce reliance on NHS and social care services – this could be anything from organising a trip to a lunch club or joining up with a local arts group.
The Local Area Co-ordinator is already a reality in Cam and Dursley and is being rolled out to other areas of the county.”
Dr Charles Buckley,
Stroud and Berkeley Vale