People living in care homes should expect the same level of support as if they were living in their own home. This can only be achieved through collaborative working between health, social care, Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector and care home partners.

The Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHCH) model moves away from traditional reactive models of care delivery towards proactive care that is centred on the needs of individual residents, their families and care home staff. Such care can only be achieved through a whole-system, collaborative approach.

The NHS Long Term Plan (2019) contained a commitment as part of the Ageing Well Programme to roll out EHCH across England by 2024, commencing in 2020. This reflects an ambition for the NHS to strengthen its support for the people who live and work in and around care homes. This includes how Urgent Community Response is accessible to people living in a care home, increased support for nurses working in care homes through a national network, and the appointment of a chief advisor on care home nursing. Information will also be shared more easily and securely between the NHS and care homes, with NHSMail now available to all care homes.

Requirements for the delivery of Enhanced Health in Care Homes by Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are included in the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES) for 2020/21. Complementary EHCH requirements for relevant providers of community physical and mental health services have been included in the NHS Standard Contract1. This supports the NHS Long Term Plan goal of "dissolving the historic divide" between primary care and community healthcare services and sets a minimum standard for NHS support to people living in care homes.

Priorities

Personalised care

• Putting the needs of the person at the centre through “what matters to you” conversations and personalised care and support planning processes.
• Supporting people to talk about the outcomes that matter most to them; and encouraging and enabling them to take on as much responsibility as they want to manage their own care, health and wellbeing.
• Supporting carers and families and recognising their needs, as well as those of the individual care home resident, and acknowledging them all as experts in their own care and lives.

Co-production

• Working and integrating with local government, the community and the VCSE and independent care homes sectors to co-design and co-deliver the model of care as equal partners.
• Acknowledging the value of the care home sector in working alongside the NHS and the significant level of healthcare that is delivered in care homes by social care staff.
• Adopting a whole-system approach, breaking down the organisational barriers between health, social care, and the VCSE sector.

Quality

• A focus on quality as the driving factor for change.
• Using clinical evidence to drive and sustain change. 

Leadership

• Strong leadership and a shared vision for better care.
• Recognising the cultural differences between organisations, sectors and different types of commissioner and provider and focussing on the shared vision and aims despite differences in language and process.