Thursday 3rd November 2011
Education Room, St Cuthbert’s Hospice
Park House Road, Merryoaks, Durham DH1 3QF
6.00 pm light buffet
7.00-8.30 talks and discussion
Should We Do More to Avoid Hospital Admissions?
There are good reasons for avoiding hospital admissions: they risk secondary conditions, they are very expensive, they sometimes involve unnecessary suffering, and they are inconsistent with providing care as close to patient homes as possible. On the other hand, there are aleady fewer hospital beds per 100,000 population in England than in almost every other comparable country, primary care has in effect a triage role and has not up-skilled itself to take on more proactive interventions, and the latest efficacious treatments for life threatening conditions are pioneered in hospitals. But do we admit to hospital too many patients whose conditions should not have come to require admission? If we could reduce those, we could free up more capacity for others who really should require admission in order to add years to life and life to years. Join us to discuss these and other related issues with contributions on:
Patient Stories, Dr Elizabeth Kendrick, GP with Special Interests in Geriatric Care
The Hospital Perspective, Dr Robin Mitchell, Medical Director County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
The General Practice Perspective, Professor Greg Rubin, Professor of General Practice and Primary Care, Durham University
Introduced and Chaired by Professor Andrew Gray
To book: please download and complete the Durham Forum for Health Booking Form.