Review of acute hospital services in the Mid - Health Service Executive

Review of acute hospital services in HSE Mid-West
An action plan for acute and community services
Understanding the new clinical model of care
In this section, we describe: the global drivers for change; the consistent international
response to these pressures; the resulting new clinical model of acute care, benchmarked to
recognised best practice standards; and how this acute model relates to, and integrates with,
the new model for local primary and community care.
The global nature of the drivers for change
Globally, many different countries and health care systems have recognised the need for
fundamental change in the way health services are presently delivered in order to respond to
a number of common severe pressures and drivers for clinical change 6 7 8 9 , including:
• The need to incorporate the rapidly increasing expansion in healthcare
knowledge and expertise into normal clinical practice;
• The need to keep pace with demographic changes, in particular, the rapid
growth in the health and social needs of the elderly;
• The impact of patient knowledge, demands and their rising expectations;
• The need to incorporate tough new infection control strategies to drive
down the risks of exposure to healthcare associated infections through
clinical service changes and updates in hospital design; and
• The enabling technologies to rapidly expand access to diagnostics and
extend the boundaries of telemedicine.
6
National Framework for Service Change in the NHS in Scotland. ‘Drivers for change in Healthcare in Scotland’. National
Planning Team, July 2005.
7 Common vision for the Canadian Health system, 2004.
8 Implementing the New Zealand Health Strategy, 2005.
9 Siegel, J.D. et al, 2007 Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare
Settings, CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 2007 (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/Isolation2007.pdf).
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