Labour’s health secretary is planning to unleash an army of health workers onto the streets of Britain – although he denies claims of nanny-statism.
Wes Streeting has in the past spoken of his desire for a ‘neighbourhood health service’ capable of tackling problems at root, The Telegraph reported.
The radical proposal would see healthcare workers going door-to-door, with the aim of diagnosing illnesses far earlier and a larger percentage of care being provided in the community.
The new model would see a community health worker being allocated a patch of 120 homes, to which they would pay monthly visits to see where their resources can be utilised.
There are plans to trial the scheme in 25 regions of England with the aim of lessening the financial burden on the NHS by addressing issues such as unemployment, debt and bereavement.
The health secretary said earlier versions of the scheme showed ‘really encouraging signs’ in slashing the number of people using the NHS heavily – those he called the ‘frequent flyers’ using up large amounts of GP’s time and clogging up A&E clinics.
He told The Telegraph: ‘I’m actually really interested in the community health worker model and the impact it’s having.’
Streeting described seeing ‘some really encouraging signs’ about outcomes from the scheme and believes it would drastically help to cut down on what he calls NHS ‘frequent flyers’ – those who use NHS services regularly and use a disproportionate amount of the health service’s resources.
Labour’s health secretary is planning to unleash an army of health workers onto the streets of Britain under a new scheme pioneered in Brazil – and denies claims of nanny-statism
The radical proposal would see healthcare workers going door-to-door, with the aim of diagnosing illnesses far earlier and providing a larger percentage of care in the community
While some critics see such direct intervention as a form of extreme nanny-statism, the specialists behind the scheme – which originates in Brazil – believe it could save the NHS.
Indeed the first pilot scheme, which took place in Westminster, London, saw a 10 per cent fall in admissions to hospital over the course of 12 months, including a 7 per cent drop in A&E visits.
The mastermind behind the scheme is public health expert Dr Matthew Harris, who himself worked as a GP in Brazil for four years between 1999 and 2003.
In the Latin American country the model has been praised for helping to reduce heart condition-related deaths by more than a third.
Dr Harris said: ‘When it comes to concern around state interference or nanny state, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is doing that on steroids.
‘It’s knocking on doors, and you might be forgiven for thinking it’s interference. But it’s actually giving control back to the resident.’
Dr Junghans-Minton, who is overseeing the first scheme in Pimlico, said that while the NHS was chronically underfunded, there was also ‘profilgate waste’ that the scheme would help to cut down on.
Streeting convened a national summit on the 10-year plan for the NHS on Friday and the new scheme could form an integral plank in his strategy as ministers seek to reducing waiting lists and reorganise the health service after the abolition of NHS England.
