NHS England announces 29 sites to spearhead integrated care models

The NHS has chosen the first 29 “vanguard” sites across England to adopt new models of integrated healthcare.

The selected geographical areas will take the lead nationally on developing the new care models proposed in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View,1 including multispecialty community providers (MCPs), designed to move specialist care out of hospitals into the community, and integrated primary and acute care systems (PACs) that join up GP, hospital, community, and mental health services.

Other sites will adopt new models of enhanced healthcare in care homes designed to offer older people better, joined-up health, care, and rehabilitation services.

The vanguard sites will receive tailored national support packages from NHS England from April 2015 and will be able to use the government’s £200m (€280m; $300m) transformation fund. The fund will not be apportioned evenly between sites but will instead be available according to the …