Webinar Series: Care during and beyond the COVID-19 Crisis: Building integrated care as the cornerstone of our new reality

Strengthening the health system response to COVID-19

WHO/Europe provides guidance to Member States on strengthening health systems and rapidly reorganizing service delivery to respond to COVID-19 while maintaining core essential services across the continuum of care so that no one is left behind. This overview of policy resources includes overall policy recommendations for a well-aligned health system response, technical guidance and checklists, and planning and monitoring tools.

Not a luxury: a call to maintain sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian and fragile settings during the COVID-19 pandemic

About 1·8 billion people live in fragile contexts worldwide,1 including 168 million individuals in need of humanitarian assistance. Approximately a quarter of those in fragile contexts are women and girls of reproductive age. Experience from past epidemics in these settings has showed that discontinuing healthcare services deemed unrelated to the epidemic response resulted in more deaths than did the epidemic itself. The COVID-19 pandemic will magnify the risks inherent to resource reshuffling at the expense of other services; however, sexual and reproductive health cannot be viewed as a luxury.

The key role of palliative care in response to the COVID-19 tsunami of suffering

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought a tsunami of suffering that is devastating even well resourced countries. The disease has wreaked havoc on health systems and generated immense losses for families, communities, and economies, in addition to the growing death toll. In this most challenging time, health responders can take advantage of palliative care know-how to focus on compassionate care and dignity, provide rational access to essential opioid medicines, and mitigate social isolation at the end of life and caregiver distress. 

Covid-19: a remote assessment in primary care

Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) is an urgent and spreading threat whose clinical and epidemiological characteristics are still being documented. With a view to containing covid-19, a shift from in-person to remote consulting is occurring. Clinicians are thus faced with a new disease and a new way of interacting with patients. This article will present some guiding principles on how to choose between telephone and video appointments, how to conduct a “query covid” consultation remotely, and considerations when arranging follow-up and next steps.

Covid-19 and the Need for Health Care Reform

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for health care reforms that promote universal access to affordable care. lthough all aspects of U.S. health care will face incredible challenges in the coming months, the patchwork way we govern and pay for health care is unraveling in this time of crisis, leaving millions of people vulnerable and requiring swift, coordinated political action to ensure access to affordable care.Our policies on health and health care, both during this pandemic and in the future, should reflect this reality, and we should not let the lessons of this crisis pass us by.

After COVID-19—Thinking Differently About Running the Health Care System

The US response to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights several strategies that should be emphasized more in the management of the health care system. These strategies include using waivers to boost federalism, reconsidering the role of hospitals and other institutions as hubs for care, expanding the use of telehealth, and bringing together funds from multiple programs to improve the delivery of health care and health-related services. The urgent steps that have been taken to make the health care system more flexible and innovative during the COVID-19 pandemic should not be forgotten once the crisis is over. Many of these steps need to be become central features of the health care system.

Webinar: Promoting Visibility and Inclusion: Protecting Older Persons and People with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying inequalities and producing new threats for older persons and persons with disabilities. COVID-19 case fatality rates suggest a notable increase in risk after age 60, with progressively worse outcomes for those over 70 and over 80 years. Likewise, people with disabilities are among the hardest hit. 

To raise awareness and ensure that the UN regional system is equipped to help governments  guarantee the equal rights of older people and people with disabilities to access healthcare and lifesaving procedures during the pandemic, UNFPA, WHO and UNDCO, in coordination with the United Nations European Regional Issue Based Coalition on Health, will convene a one-hour webinar focused on supporting UNCTs in their work to advocate for greater attention to the specific needs of vulnerable persons. Panelists from civil society organizations actively engaged with the UN system will offer views on scaling up immediate responses while making COVID19 a ...

An unprecedented challenge: Italy’s first response to COVID-19

This report tells the story of the first phase of Italy’s response to the COVID-19 virus, which in many people transformed into the dreaded illness known as COVID-19, leading to unprecedented death tolls across the world. Readers should note that the report is an unfinished story. It was written in the midst of the initial phase of the pandemic in a climate of constant and daily change as the country responded to this unprecedented challenge. While early lessons will surely need to be revisited, this report is a first account of Italy’s immediate experience with COVID-19, dealing with different aspects of the response as the first country that experienced widescale community transmission in Europe.

Realising the True Value of Integrated Care: Beyond COVID-19

Stronger and more resilient care systems and communities are better able to cope, respond and adapt to new challenges and crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. They are able to quickly come together to ‘act as one’ and collaborate across disciplines and sectors towards a common goal. This is the essence of integrated care and this is what the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) stands for – creating a more connected health and care system.

Launch of the WHO Academy and the WHO Info mobile applications

WHO has launched the WHO Academy app designed to support health workers during COVID-19, and the WHO Info app designed to inform the general public.

The Academy app, launched by the WHO Academy, World Health Organization’s lifelong learning centre, provides health workers with mobile access to a wealth of COVID-19 knowledge resources, developed by WHO, that include up-to-the-minute guidance, tools, training, and virtual workshops that will help them care for COVID-19 patients and protect themselves.

The application is available for free download from both the Apple App Store  and Google Play Store, in Arabic Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The WHO Info app, with an intuitive user-interface, will give millions of people real-time mobile access to the latest news and developments, disease outbreak updates, and public health emergency information. The app will provide, from the COVID-19 front, the latest WHO initiatives, partnerships, up-to-date data on cases by country ...

HealthBuddy: a new chatbot to engage with communities in Europe and central Asia on COVID-19

HealthBuddy, a multilingual interactive chatbot, is the newest tool to be launched as a resource for countries in Europe and central Asia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The chatbot, developed by WHO/Europe and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO), will help countries in the region to access accurate information, and counter misinformation surrounding the virus.

The COVID-19 Pivot: Clinical approaches to the global pandemic from an international panel

The Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine from College of Family Physiscians of Canada presents the COVID-19 Pivot Webinar: Clinical approaches to the global pandemic from an international panel, host by Dr. David Ponka, with the presentation of Dr.William Goldberg, Dr. Elena Klusova and Dr. Nisanth Menon.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CFPC.CMFC/videos/612435246287226/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpKyuFHW-RA

WHO and Costa Rica preview technology pooling initiative to ensure access to COVID-19 health products for all

Presidents Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica and Sebastián Piñera of Chile joined WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to announce progress on a technology platform that aims to lift access barriers to effective vaccines, medicines and other health products against COVID-19.

The platform will pool data, knowledge and intellectual property for existing or new COVID-19 health products to deliver ‘global public goods’ for all people and all countries. Through the open sharing of science and data, numerous companies will be able to access the information they need to produce the technologies, thereby scaling up availability worldwide, lowering costs and increasing access. 

WHO and Costa Rica will officially launch the platform on 29 May. On that date, a Solidarity Call to Action will be published on WHO’s web site where governments, research and development funders, institutions and companies can express their support.

The solidarity of all of ...

Driving and accelerating a 'one system' response: why COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on Integrated Care

High performing health and social care systems provide exceptional care, quality and experiences for patients, caregivers and providers. Pivotal to this, is how we work across health and social care as one team. The need for integrated care is a global priority and is poised to address fragmentation and accelerate the improvements that are needed. During a global pandemic, the need to work as an integrated system is even more pressing and gives us an opportunity to pause, reflect and respond.

In situations where systems are subjected to unprecedented pressure, organizations and sectors may respond from the lens of what can their individual organization or sector do, rather than responding as a cohesive and interconnected system.

Organizations that have embraced collaborative models of response and care and were already working to advance integration pre-pandemic appear to be more effective in responding as one connected team and community.

This webinar will ...

Call for an expression of interest: Behavioural, social and economic impacts of the outbreak response

The European Commission´s second call for an Expression of Interest for innovative and rapid health-related approaches to respond to COVID-19 and to deliver quick results for society for a higher level of preparedness of health systems:

Proposals should focus on lessons learnt: they should i) address how to mitigate social and economic impacts of the outbreak response related to health systems; ii) identify non-intended consequences of epidemic-control decisions; and iii) provide answers to social, including gendered, dynamics of the outbreak and the related public health response.

In particular, in their proposals the applicants are encouraged to integrate multiple medical, social sciences and humanities disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, sociology, epidemiology, implementation science, journalism & communication, economics and political sciences, as well as gender studies and intersectional research to address the following inter-related dimensions.

Submit an Expression of Interest by June 11, 2020.

Community Responses to COVID-19: From the Horn of Africa to the Solomon Islands

While this pandemic has the potential to fracture societies, it is the resilience, solidarity, strength, and ingenuity of communities that will help overcome this crisis.

Highlights

• Community-driven development (CDD) programs, which put people at the center of designing their own solutions, are a critical part of the World Bank’s response to the global COVID-19 crisis.

• The Bank is supporting countries in Horn of Africa and in Solomon Islands through CDD programs that are delivering cash and basic services to the most vulnerable.

• To tackle a crisis of this magnitude and scale, countries need an equitable, whole-of-society approach, which lies at the heart of CDD programs.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have devastating impacts on people, with a disproportionate impact on the poor and the most vulnerable, who lack the coping mechanisms and essential services they need.

In a crisis of this magnitude, no single intervention is enough, and countries ...

Time to get our act together on UHC and health emergencies

UHC2030 will launch a discussion paper to consolidate our vision for resilient health systems, and priority actions for both emergency preparedness and UHC goals. With this, we aim to bring partners together around common messages on public health actions as ‘step zero’ of UHC, so health systems better support health security and UHC. This builds on the recent statement from UHC2030 co-chairs which called on world leaders to remember their UHC commitments as they respond to COVID-19.

Ilona Kickbusch, Chair of the International Advisory Board of the Global Health Centre, will moderate a panel discussion with senior leaders from WHO, World Bank, OECD and respondents from academia and civil society. This event proposes to stimulate discussion with stakeholders from across the UHC movement and beyond, immediately after the World Health Assembly, in order to leverage the momentum around the discussions among ministers of health.

The event is jointly organised by ...

Implementation of the Integrated Care of Older People (ICOPE) App in Primary Care: New Technologies in Geriatric Care During Quarantine of COVID-19 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic due to a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 has rapidly spread worldwide. The mortality rate is about 2.3% in general population, with high human-to-human transmission of 0.41 (credible interval [0.27, 0.55]), and nasopharyngeal asymptomatic carriers act as vectors within the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic on March 2020, and established objectives and action plan. First, WHO aimed at limiting the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which required large isolation actions (country borders lockdown and individual quarantine). Second, WHO aimed at guiding and supporting the different health care systems across countries. Finally, developing therapeutic interventions appeared as a global priority as available evidence were still scarce. More than 860 clinical trials are ongoing worldwide.

Webinar: How to Use COVID-19 to Build Better UHC Systems in Africa

In discussion with Former President, H.E. Dr. Jakaya Kikwete, senior African officials, and other global health experts, this high-level webinar will focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic underscores a pressing need to implement UHC. Speakers will highlight how multi-sectoral collaboration is a pathway to achieving resilient, sustainable, and quality UHC in Africa by 2030.

At the event, Harvard Global Health Institute and The Access Challenge will launch the 2020 One by One UHC Report, “Africa Leads the Way: Harnessing Multi-sectoral Collaboration to Achieve UHC.”

This is a webinar for African leadership, communities, and global partners to discuss how cooperation through the COVID-19 response can build the necessary foundation for equitable and affordable health systems for all.

Featuring

• H.E. Amira El Fadil, Commissioner of Social Affairs, African Union
• H.E. Dr. Jakaya M. Kikwete, former President, United Republic of Tanzania
• Dr. Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti Regional Director, Africa, World Health ...

Driving and Accelerating a ‘One System’ Response: Why COVID-19 has Shone a Spotlight on Integrated Care

People as Partners in Care

Supporting Resilient Communities in Times of Public Health Crisis

Building integrated care as the cornerstone of our new reality

This webinar allowed decision makers and managers in health and health care to learn about the integrated care approaches that have been implemented and the considerations that have been made to address the continuum of care and support needs of individuals, beyond public health issues and crisis management.

Global COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Impact Grant (Global Co-RIG)

The Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine (Besrour Centre) at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), thanks to the generous support of the CFPC’s Foundation for the Advancement of Family Medicine (FAFM) and the Fondation Docteur Sadok Besrour, is seeking proposals for a Global COVID-19 pandemic innovation response.

The initiative is a response to how the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting the health and economic well-being of nations. There are more than six million cases, and more than 370,000 deaths, worldwide.

* The response to such a threat must be rapid and effective to minimize the harmful impact of a virus that is highly transmissible and that is affecting the most vulnerable worldwide. The primary care response to COVID-19 must support innovation that targets and protects highly vulnerable populations that lack access to primary care.

The goal of this initiative is to have the greatest impact for reducing ...

IFIC Scotland Integrated Care Matters: Build Back Better Webinar Series

IFIC’s new report, Realising the true value of integrated care describes the steps we must take to create a radically different future beyond Covid-19. The report is a powerful call to reset our compass to a new reality based on solidarity and collaboration for population health.

IFIC Scotland and partners will explore this new future in series 5 of their Integrated Care Matters webinars. Guest panelists, members of IFICs international Special Interest Groups, will share their experiences and insights and challenge us to design a better future that improves lives and opportunities for all.

Each webinar will be accompanied by a topic resource with links to further information. All who register will receive links to the recordings and topic resources.

Upcoming Webinars

Hold the dates and register for the free webinars – broadcast live 4-5pm (5-6pm CET) .

Click the links to Register:

Enhanced healthcare support in care homes – from ...

COVID-19 technology access pool

Commitments to share knowledge, intellectual property and data

The single most important priority of the global community is to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, halt its rapid transmission and reverse the trend of consequential global distress. This goal is only achievable when everyone, everywhere can access the health technologies they need for COVID-19 detection, prevention, treatment and response.

The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) will compile, in one place, pledges of commitment made under the Solidarity Call to Action to voluntarily share COVID-19 health technology related knowledge, intellectual property and data. Shared knowledge, intellectual property and data will leverage our collective efforts to advance scientific discovery, technology development and broad sharing of the benefits of scientific advancement and its applications based on the right to health.

Holders of COVID-19 health technology related knowledge, intellectual property and/or data are invited to "TAKE ACTION NOW"

Access to COVID-19 Tools (Act) Accelerator- A ...

Digital Solutions: Adoption, Adaption and their role in post-Covid19 health and social care delivery

As each integrated care building block is reliant on information, digital solutions could be seen as the cement that holds the blocks together. Albeit, the arguments for greater use and investment have become increasingly compelling, the rate of adoption remains below expectations; that is until COVID-19.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, countries have seen a rapid citizen-led proliferation of digital solutions being used for remote working, socialisation between family, friends and communities, and education, to name but a few. This rapid pace of change has been mirrored by national and local government and public health through the use of social media to effectively reach individuals to provide guidance, support, collect well-being and COVID infection data, and undertake tracing through Apps. Furthermore, many countries have created fully functioning field hospitals with IT departments working around the clock to ensure these new care facilities can be up and running to provide safe ...

Integrated delivery and continuity of care in times of crisis

Ensuring continuity of care in response to the Covid-19 crisis has been a key issue for public health and social care services across Europe. Whilst the implementation of local partnerships for integrated care delivery have been identified as a success factor, in many cases the reality on the ground has been one of a fragmented market. One, where providers of home care, residential care and supported living have been under pressure due to the lack of protective equipment, the fear of infection, and a reduction in the number of professionals.

Still a fragmented un-resourced system

In light of the Covid-19 crisis, care services have been reaping a bitter harvest of years of failure to invest adequately in public health and social care systems. While older people’s care services have been affected across Europe, the situation has been particularly difficult in two countries: the UK and Spain.

In Spain, the ...

Family medicine in times of ‘COVID-19’: A generalists' voice

The novel coronavirus epidemic is transforming the world in which we live. This pandemic will bring sweeping changes everywhere, not least in the field of primary care medicine. Overall, this pandemic has genuinely demonstrated the medical professional’s power to adapt, evolve and thrive, even in these times of unprecedented crisis. Family medicine, dealing with both the emotional and the scientific side of medicine on a daily basis, plays a central role in tackling this pandemic. Taking responsibility for both care and research on COVID-19 will redefine the importance of family medicine for public health care. 

Digital Solutions: Adoption, Adaptation and their role in post-Covid19 health and social care delivery

Care during and beyond the COVID-19 Crisis: Workforce Capacity and Capability

Supporting older people in remote areas in a post COVID-19 time

The COVID-19 pandemic, like other disasters, undermines older people´s capacity and chances of survival as a result especially of emergency induced mental health and psychological problems, and the breakdown in services for preventing and treating chronic conditions and for providing social support. Furthermore, maintaining relationships is often identified by older people as central to their wellbeing, but social distancing has transformed the lives of everyone in society and has changed relationships and personal contact as well. Here, we set out how the COVID-19 pandemic affects older people in remote areas specifically.

Navigating COVID-19: Supporting Individuals With Dementia And Their Caregivers

The current COVID-19 emergency presents new and unique challenges for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) as well as the family and friends providing care for them.

Providers and health plans can play a key role in supporting individuals with ADRD and their caregivers as they navigate these challenges. This webinar provided information on how COVID-19 affects and presents in people with ADRD, strategies for family and friend caregivers for supporting those with ADRD living at home during COVID-19, and opportunities for health care systems to prepare to meet the needs of people with ADRD diagnosed with COVID-19.

• Freddi Segal-Gidan, PA, PhD; Director, USC-Rancho California Alzheimer’s Disease Center (CADC), Assistant Professor Clinical Neurology and Family Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC
• Joseph Herrera, MSW; Director, Outreach and Education, USC-Rancho CADC
• Jennifer Schlesinger, MPH, CHES; Director, Professional Training and Healthcare Services, Alzheimer’s ...

Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on older persons

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing untold fear and suffering for older people across the world. As the virus spreads rapidly to developing countries, likely overwhelming health and social protection systems, the mortality rate for older persons could climb even higher. Efforts to protect older persons should not overlook the many variations within this category, their incredible resilience and positivity, and the multiple roles they have in society, including as caregivers, volunteers and community leaders.

COVID-19 recovery is an opportunity to set the stage for a more inclusive, equitable and age-friendly society.

COVID-19: General recommendations for the care of older persons from a human rights perspective

Older people may be more likely to experience complications during the COVID-19 pandemic, so this paper provides recommendations for the care of this social group from a human rights perspective, which can be applied in the home, community and long-term care facilities. These recommendations were drawn up on the basis of good practices in countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region and beyond.

COVID-19 and Older Persons: A Defining Moment for an Informed, Inclusive and Targeted Response

As the world grapples with an unparalleled health crisis, POLICY BRIEF NO68 older persons have become one of its more visible victims. The pandemic spreads among persons of all ages and conditions, yet available evidence indicates that older persons and those with underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk of serious illness and death from the COVID-19 disease. This brief has presented the distinct situation of older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights how older persons encounter specifc challenges that need to be understood and integrated into policy measures related to COVID-19. 

Integrated Care in Latin America, cornerstone of the new reality: Atención Integrada en Iberoamérica piedra angular de la nueva realidad

In this webinar hosted in Spanish, we want to identify and share emerging integrated care practices to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ibero-America, as well as discuss new opportunities in the integration of health services and systems in the future.

Wednesday August 05/Miércoles 05 de Agosto
Hora: 11:00 h (Costa Rica) 12:00 h (Colombia, Mexico), 13:00 h (Bolivia, Chile), 14:00 h (Argentina, Uruguay), 19:00 h (España)

La actual pandemia de COVID-19 ha impactado rápidamente nuestras vidas, particularmente, está creando un desafío sin precedentes para nuestros sistemas de salud y sociales en todo el mundo. En este contexto todos los países están tomando numerosas medidas para responder a las necesidades de atención urgente de las personas afectadas por COVID-19, al mismo tiempo que intentan reducir al máximo el impacto entre los grupos vulnerables.

La Fundación ...

Webinar: Integrated care in Latin America and the Caribbean beyond COVID-19

Realising the value of integrated care in Australia beyond

PROFESSOR NICK GOODWIN, Director, Central Coast Research Institute for Integrated Care, University of Newcastle and Central Coast LHD. Co-Founder, International Foundation for Integrated Care

Over the past decade there has been a growing realisation of the need to reform health and care systems in Australia to better coordinate care, improve quality and promote value.

For example, recent reports such as the 2017 Productivity Commission’s Shifting the Dial and the 2018 CSIRO report Future of Health criticised the existing disease-based, episodic, medicallydominated and institutionally- led characteristics of the Australian health system as being unable to respond effectively to the new challenges of age-related chronic illnesses and the very high percentage of Australians living in ill-health.

A more person-centred and integrated approach was required, including a shift in funding away from rewarding volume to incentivising value, empowering consumers, addressing health inequality, unlocking the value of digital health, and building integrated care ...

COVID-19 care in India: the course to self-reliance

Many times we think of the integration of health systems as an urgent need. However, there are cases (and realities) where it is necessary to centralize to homogenize the action in the face of a crisis such as the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. The public health response to COVID-19 in India has been highly centralised, resulting in a homogenous strategy applied across a sixth of the world’s population.

From Crisis to Coordination: Challenges and Opportunities for Integrated Care posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has accentuated the stark reality that, despite the efforts of the past 20 years, there remains a continued failure to embrace integrated care systems. It has also demonstrated how quickly systems, organisations and individuals can change, if they must. The uptake in telehealth, eHealth and other technological support systems is unprecedented, even though only a couple of months ago this was unthinkable on a broad scale in many countries. The swiftness of multi-disciplinary teams coming together to find flexible solutions to the day-today challenges during lockdown has shown how we can achieve effective communication and collaboration.

Health care for chronic neurological patients after COVID-19

Covid-19 has hit the world population hard. Its effects continue to arise at the community and individual level. However, recovered patients, who had a relatively long stay in the ICU due to the complications of the disease, present and will present very diverse sequelae: post-traumatic stress, transient cognitive alterations and neurological alterations. This article-commentary shows how the health system should reformulate certain priorities for the care of the neurological sequelae of the pandemic at the individual level.

Community engagement for successful COVID-19 pandemic response: 10 lessons from Ebola outbreak responses in Africa

During public health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern, communities are often poorly involved in the planning and implementation of interventions, yet their commitment is fundamental to control outbreaks. Given the experience of responding to Ebola epidemics in Africa, it is imperative that communities must be accountable to the response to COVID-19. Health actors and authorities must co-construct solutions to address COVID-19 with community leaders and communities. 

Telemonitoring and continuity of care for older subjects: comparing experience an identifying common solutions

The COVID19 pandemic highlighted some structural – organizational and cultural – limitations of our dominant model of (health)care. One of these is the need to identify and adopt newer instruments for the continuity of care for the large number of patients with chronic disease who live in low-density population areas  (200 million or 27% of EU population) and experience inequality to access (health)care because of the distance between community and healthcare structures. Notably, the onset of multimorbidity occurs 10–15 years earlier in people living in the most deprived areas compared with the most a?uent.

The Workshop aims at facilitating knowledge acquisition (including existing Projects and adopted solutions) and at fostering collaboration and standardization of best practice, including health literacy and patients and caregivers empowerment, in order to impact on the adoption of innovative digital solutions able to boost people's health and quality of life and enable more ...

A reflection on the development of Integrated Health Services Networks in the Americas

In October 2009, the 49^th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) approved the resolution “Integrated Networks of Health Services based on Primary Health Care” (IHSDN). The approval of this resolution formalized the commitment of the countries of the Americas to advance in the creation, development, and strengthening of IHSDNs in the Region, and constitutes until today a cooperation mandate for PAHO.

The resolution was accompanied by an important position paper called “Integrated Health Services Networks. Concepts, policy options and roadmap” published in May 2010. This document provided an action guide to implement the IHSDN, including a new definition of fourteen attributes grouped into four categories (care model, governance and strategy, organization and management, and allocation and incentives) to be met by integrated service networks. The importance of this is that the attributes offered leaders, managers, researchers, and those interested in general in this matter, a clear ...

Can Integrated Care Help in Meeting the Challenges Posed on Our Health Care Systems by COVID-19? Some Preliminary Lessons Learned from the European VIGOUR Project

The COVID-19 pandemic puts health and care systems under pressure globally. This current paper highlights challenges arising in the care for older and vulnerable populations in this context and reflects upon possible perspectives for different systems making use of nested integrated care approaches adapted during the work of the EU-funded project VIGOUR (“Evidence based Guidance to Scale-up Integrated Care in Europe”).

Why communities must be at the centre of the Coronavirus disease 2019 response: Lessons from Ebola and human immunodeficiency virus in Africa

As the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread globally, with no effective treatment or vaccine yet available, governments in many countries have put in place social interventions to control the outbreak. Communities are complex and only their members can inform public health experts about their lived realities, the community’s understanding of the outbreak and what will work locally to reduce transmission. 

Why the biopsychosocial model needs to be the underpinning philosophy in rehabilitation pathways for patients recovering from COVID-19

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has left many consequences, both social and health, on a social and individual level. In the face of individual sequelae, the need to address this need for care with an integrative approach becomes more important.The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has left many consequences, both social and health, on a social and individual level. In the face of individual sequelae, the need to address this need for care with an integrative approach becomes more important.

"For patients recovering from COVID-19, it will be impossible to separate the person and their personal circumstances from COVID-19, and to regard physical, psychological and social factors as independent entities. For this reason, we argue that the BPS model is needed with even more reason than before, and that it should be the philosophy of care to underpin rehabilitation in the recovery from COVID-19".

Telemedicine for housebound older persons during the Covid-19 pandemic

Hollander and Brendan highlighted the benefit to decision-making that may be drawn from the use of automated screening algorithms in prioritizing patient care to better allocate resources during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.  A strategy to screen older community dwellers at risk for home confinement-related adverse consequences must, therefore, be adopted based on an efficient and effective forward triage framework. In older community dwellers, assessing frailty is a definite cornerstone of triage, as it provides insight into the degree of vulnerability in their health status and their risk for adverse consequences. 

The Centre of Excellence on Longevity of McGill University (Quebec, Canada) designed, in late March 2020, a short assessment known as “Evaluation SOcio-GERiatrique” (ESOGER) for Montreal’s housebound community-dwelling older adults. It acts as the first step in connecting older community dwellers who are housebound during the ...

Primary health care, the Declaration of Astana and COVID-19

Abstract Four decades after the Declaration of Alma-Ata, its vision of health for all and strategy of primary health care are still an inspiration to many people. In this article we evaluate the current status of primary health care in the era of the Declaration of Astana, the sustainable development goals, universal health coverage and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

From Crisis to Coordination: Challenges and Opportunities for Integrated Care posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic caused by Covid 19 affects all types of countries and societies without distinction. However, within the com link, the unit shows brutal inequality in its "attack."The impact of COVID-19 has thrown into sharp relief the problems that fragmented health and care systems face in adapting to crises that require an urgent and collaborative response. The disproportionate impact of the pandemic – for example on ethnic minority and indigenous populations; on older people living in residential aged care facilities; on those living in rural and remote communities; on the poorest; and on people with the most complex health and care needs – says much about our continued inability to coordinate care and support our vulnerable communities, and so expose them to disproportionate risk.

This editorial does not propose 3 action challenges:

Challenge 1: Responses to COVID-19 have largely NOT been integrated, leading to adverse outcome

Challenge 2: Responses continue to ...

Integrated Care and Geriatrics: A Call to Renovation from the COVID-19 Pandemic

We are experiencing an unprecedented demographic change, in terms of speed. The population over 65 years of age corresponds to approximately 9% of the world population (Population Division of the Department of Economics and Social Affairs of the United Nations).
We know that the elderly population has a high risk of suffering from serious diseases.

Long-term care facilities (LTCFs) of geriatric care has been traditionally marginalized within healthcare networks. LTCFs have constantly been living in the ambiguity that their residential nature does not fit with the relevant clinical burden of care of their frail and complex residents.

Covid 19 presents us with a challenge: to establish an integrated system that includes LTFCs. This editorial makes a call to which we must go.

Re-organising primary health care to respond to the Coronavirus epidemic in Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town is currently one of the hotspots for COVID-19 on the African continent. The Metropolitan Health Services have re-organised their primary health care (PHC) services to tackle the epidemic with a community-orientated primary care perspective. Two key goals have guided the re-organisation, the need to maintain social distancing and reduce risk to people using the services and the need to prepare for an influx of people with COVID-19. Facilities were re-organised to have ‘screening and streaming’ at the entrance and patients were separated into hot and cold streams.

IFIC Ireland Webinar: Medium and Long-term Impact of COVID-19. Making Integrated Care Happen

The International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) Ireland hosts and facilitates a series of webinars titled ‘Making Integrated Care Happen’ which forms one of the key delivery mechanisms enabling knowledge mobilisation across all stakeholders with an interest in developing and implementing integrated care within the healthcare systems on the island of Ireland.

The last session in IFIC Ireland 2020 series will focus on the medium and long term impacts of COVID-19 on the person and the implications for health and social care delivery.

Prof Lynne Turner-Stokes, King's College London, Northwick Park Hospital - Long-term impacts of COVID-19 and meeting the needs for Rehabilitation (40 minutes) will present research and clinical understanding of how COVID-19 may continue to impact those diagnosed long after the initial course of the disease.

Anne O'Connor, Chief Operations Officer at Health Service Executive (HSE) - Impacts of COVID-19 on service delivery, design and integration (30 minutes ...

IFIC Scotland Webinar: Digitally enabled Care Pathways. Integrated Care Matters

The International Foundation for Integrated Care’s report, Realising the true value of integrated care describes the steps we must take to create a radically different future beyond COVID-19. The report is a powerful call to reset our compass to a new reality based on solidarity and collaboration for population health.

IFIC Scotland and partners explore this new future in series 5 of their Integrated Care Matters webinars. Guest panelists, members of IFICs international Special Interest Groups, will share their experiences and insights and challenge us to design a better future that improves lives and opportunities for all. 

The final webinar of 2020 in the Integrated Care Matters series 5 will discuss digitally enabled care pathways. All who register will receive links to the recordings and topic resources.

Additional information and guest panelists

State of Commitment to Universal Health Coverage

The State of commitment to universal health coverage (UHC) provides a multi-stakeholder consolidated view on the state of progress being made towards UHC at country and global levels.

The review is political, country-focused and action-oriented in nature and complements the more technical and global UHC monitoring report focusing on UHC indicators on service coverage and financial protection.

The State of UHC Commitment  follows the UHC Political Declaration’s Key Targets, Commitments and Follow-up Actions and support national accountability and advocacy processes to ensure political leaders are held accountable for their UHC commitments.

The synthesis report summarises the state of UHC commitment at both the country and global level. In 2020, the report focuses on how the world has coped to date with the extraordinary challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It shares short stories from people’s lived experiences, demonstrating the reality of UHC on the ground.

Read more 

State ...

JICA Special Issue: Integrated Palliative and End of Life Care for People with Advanced Dementia or Frailty

This special issue now seems uncannily prescient in view of the devastating impact of COVID-19 on people with advanced dementia or severe frailty, particularly in care homes.

The pandemic has heightened awareness of the possibility of a sudden and rapid transition from relative health to a palliative or end of life stage. This has opened up conversations about the potential burden from intensive treatments that are likely to be futile and the benefits of advance care planning.

The collection of papers in this special issue will be of interest to readers involved in planning, commissioning or delivering palliative and end of life care services for our most vulnerable citizens at this time, whether at home or in a hospital, care home or hospice.

Read the full Guest Editorial and the collection of papers of this special issue

EHMA value-based primary care executive workshop

The European Health Management Association (EHMA) is hosting a two-day executive workshop on value-based primary care, on 15-16 February 2021. The workshop will discuss the latest frameworks and experiences on how primary care is evolving in the ever-changing healthcare systems and how services/management adapted to take into consideration the new reality created by COVID-19.

Comparison of experiences from different countries will be discussed, with a specific focus on the Catalan case of CASAP and the Italia Lombardy Region reform based on proactive population health management, Chronic Related Groups (CReGs) and individual care contracts.

Save a spot, participate in the interactive workshop and collaborate with healthcare professionals at all levels within health systems and primary care sector.

Programme and further information

Age Friendly, Healthy, Connected Communities. IFIC Scotland Integrated Care Matters: Build Back Better Webinar Series

IFIC's new report, Realising the true value of integrated care describes the steps we must take to create a radically different future beyond Covid-19. The report is a powerful call to reset our compass to a new reality based on solidarity and collaboration for population health. IFIC Scotland and partners will explore this new future in series 5 of their Integrated Care Matters webinars. Guest panelists, members of IFICs international Special Interest Groups, will share their experiences and insights and challenge us to design a better future that improves lives and opportunities for all. Each webinar will be accompanied by a topic resource with links to further information. All who register will receive links to the recordings and topic resources.

Professor Anne ...

EFPC 2021 BERGEN CONFERENCE. Primary and long-term care in the age of changing boundaries: Policy, practice and imagination

Integrated Healthcare Systems Response Strategies Based on the Luohu Model During the COVID-19 Epidemic in Shenzhen, China

COVID-19 has affected primary health-care delivery in metropolitan areas. An integrated health-care system offers advantages in response to the community outbreak and transmission of highly infectious diseases.

On the basis of practitioner experience with a pioneering integrated health-care system in Shenzhen, China, this article presents the following effective strategies in response to the epidemic: (1) enhance the public workforce in primary health care; (2) integrate resources to allow regional sharing and efficient use; (3) employ teams centered on general practitioners for community containment; and (4) adopt e-health and telemedicine for healthcare delivery.

An integrated health-care system is usually very specific to a particular regional context; however, the core strategies and mechanisms based on the Luohu model can contribute to improving the public health capacity in emergency responses; they can transform health-care delivery in the COVID-19 epidemic.

The experience in Shenzhen may help other cities in enhancing and coordinating the preparedness ...

Consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown in patients with chronic diseases in Andalusia

COVID-19 affects individuals in different ways. Most infected patients develop a mild to moderate form of the disease and recover without hospitalization but adults of any age living with chronic conditions have an increased risk of serious symptoms and severe form of illness. Based on current evidence, conditions that increase risk include asthma, hypertension or high blood pressure, overweight or type 1 diabetes mellitus (ECDC, 2020). The threat to these patients is twofold, forcing them to avoid infection at the same time as their care routines are affected by the health protection measures put in place by governments. A better understanding of those impacts helps health systems to prepare adequately to provide patient-centered care during the pandemic.

A new study conducted by our team of the “School of Patients” researchers, has systematically explored these insights throught the stories of 34 chronically ill persons from the Andalusian region, at the South ...

1st International Conference on Public Health in Africa

The 1st International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA), which was postponed earlier this year due to COVID-19, will now take place virtually from 14-16 December 2021. The conference offers a unique platform for African researchers, policymakers and stakeholders to share scientific findings and public health perspectives and collaborate on research, innovation and public health across the continent.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over in Africa. With 7 million infections and almost 175,000 lives lost across the continent, its impact has already been severe. Economic and social disruptions caused by COVID-19 have threatened even more lives and livelihoods, putting years of human development progress at risk of reversal.

Over the course of three days, scientific tracks focusing on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, health systems strengthening and learnings from the COVID-19 response will be covered through keynote and panel presentations, plenaries and participatory sessions with a special focus ...

Integrated care for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium: Lessons learned the hard way

The corona pandemic challenges countries worldwide in many different ways. Due to its magnitude and impact on global health, this health crisis exposes several shortcomings in their health systems and emphasizes their shortcomings and deficiencies. These deficiencies have quickly affected the most frail citizens, such as older people. The first wave of the COVID19 pandemic in Belgium has quickly shown that nursing homes were not prepared for these kinds of crises. The nature, speed and extent gave rise to an accelerated and more extensive collaboration between various nursing homes and Ghent University Hospital. Before this crisis, the level of integrated care between nursing homes and hospitals was mostly limited. But setting up a strong collaboration model and integrated care between nursing homes and hospitals enables the nursing homes to manage this specific and complex care in their own environment. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This case study shows that integrated care is ...

Elderly people, dependency and vulnerability in the coronavirus pandemic: an emergency for a social and health integration

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (COVID-19) is affecting elderly people worldwide with greater incidence and severity. In Spain, 68% of all coronavirus hospitalizations correspond to those over 60 years of age. This work aims to highlight the evidence about the measures to be implemented through current and future guidelines. The need to prepare for action by implementing international protocols stand out. There is a trend towards biopsychosocial care of elderly people in all settings where they are, adapting care and personalizing decisions on hospital admissions, palliative care, among other criteria, to years adjusted to quality of life, as well as alternatives for monitoring and treatment of COVID-19 pathology and others existing in this population group. Measures to reduce the transmission of the virus through hygiene and social distancing are necessary, attending to biopsychosocial health of the elderly isolated. Intersectoral communication is proposed as innovative alternatives, and the use of technological tools ...

WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing wide ranging disruption to the operation of health services around the world. A recent WHO global pulse survey revealed 90% of countries have reported disruption of services across the board – including outreach services, immunisations and emergency care amongst others.

The WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub (HLH) is a dynamic new knowledge platform that will use innovative approaches to collate, document and synthesise emerging areas of learning on the maintenance of essential health services to support countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, including the recovery and post- pandemic phase

The HLH supports implementation of WHO’s operational guidance on maintaining essential health services.

key Features

• ACTION BRIEFS: Innovative examples of efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services.
• LEARNING BRIEFS: A synthesis of emerging themes to inform the global response.
• LEARNING LABS: Dynamic communitites of practice that will focus on solving ...

Behavioral interventions in acute COVID-19 recovery: A new opportunity for integrated care

New York City was the epicenter of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Critically ill patients surviving prolonged ventilation, medical complications, and protracted delirium are profoundly debilitated. In response, our hospital temporarily created a novel, hybrid inpatient medicine-rehabilitation unit for COVID-19 survivors. Patients are medically monitored and work towards rehabilitation goals with daily physical and occupational therapy (PT/OT). To our knowledge, it is the only such unit in our region. Here, we describe how neuropsychology and consultation-liaison psychiatry have collaborated to implement interventions within this unit to facilitate patients' recovery.

Has COVID-19 changed the workload for primary care physicians? The case of Spain

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive over-exertion of doctors, multiplying their work intensity, overload and stress. Work overload and the emotional state of health workers is one of the many repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results derived from this study may be useful in formulating policies and practices related to the workforce development, funding streams to prepare for the next wave of COVID-19 infections as well as for future public health emergencies.

Drawing light from the pandemic: A new strategy for health and sustainable development

Over the year 2020, members of the Commission have reflected on what worked and, more often, what did not work in the COVID-19 response and in previous crises. In the Call to Action that they issued in March 2021 and in this final report, they have made a series of recommendations with the aim of achieving seven key objectives to prevent a catastrophe on the same scale from happening again.

Healthcare team coordination at the Mali Hospital face the psychological difficulties of COVID+ patients

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has accentuated the problems that fragmented health care systems face to adapt their actions to respond with coordinated services. Public hospitals were brought to the forefront early on in the fight against the pandemic, even though the neoliberal reforms of the last thirty years have largely contributed to undermining their capacity to cope with it. Other factors are challenging the organization of health systems to meet the priority needs of populations, such as the prevalence of hospital-centrism, the requirement that users pay for care when they are sick and visit health services, and the construction of new hospitals in Africa.

Mali Hospital (HDM) received its first patients on March 29, 2020, five days after the first case was identified in the country. The HDM is one of the newest hospitals in the country. Built with the support of Chinese cooperation, it was inaugurated in September 2010 ...

Critical care nurses’ experiences of working during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic –Applying the Person-centred Practice Framework

In a short period, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare systems and societies worldwide. ICUs have been described as ‘the frontline of a war’ against the disease  Critical care nurses (CCNs) in this frontline were and are still engaging with some of the most challenging ethical issues of our time; these include limited resources, a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and professionals’ obligations to care for patients.  At the same time, they were expected to provide person-centred care (PCC) with quality, as they had done before the pandemic.

10th Global Conference on Health Promotion for Well-being, Equity, and Sustainable Development

The Tenth Global Conference on Health Promotion for Well-being, Equity and Sustainable Development, to be held on 13–15 December 2021, is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the support of Finland and the United Arab Emirates, United Nations agencies and partners.

The event is taking place at a critical moment in our progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building forward better in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health promotion enables people to increase control over and improve their health. Against this backdrop, health promotion creates conditions and healthy environments for people where they live, work, age and play. The Conference will address how health promotion can advance well-being. It will be the first time that WHO addresses well-being as the theme of a major conference.

Participants at the Conference will discuss the contributions that health promotion can make to people’s and societies’ well-being ...

Critical care nurses' experiences of working during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic - Applying the Person-centred Practice Framework

We need to prepare ahead of time so that nurses have optimal organisational prerequisites to be able to work in accordance with person-centred practice, also during pandemics and other crisis, which means to be able to give nursing care in accordance with the ill person's needs and resources.

Nurse perceptions of a nurse family liaison implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative thematic analysis

Stress among family members of hospitalised intensive care unit patients may be amplified in the context of a global pandemic and strict visitor restrictions. A nurse family liaison role in the COVID-19 units was implemented to serve as a connection between the care team and a designated family member. Our objective was to describe the experience of a nurse family liaison role implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of nurses who functioned in the liaison role and intensive care nurses who worked with the liaisons.

Person-Centered Healthcare Practice in a Pandemic Context: An Exploration of People's Experience of Seeking Healthcare Support

The recent COVID-19 pandemic increased pressure upon healthcare resources resulting in compromised health services. Enforced national lockdown led to people being unable to access essential services in addition to limiting contact with social support networks. The novel coronavirus, and subsequent condition known as long covid were not well-understood and clinicians were not supported by existing guidelines or pathways. Our study explored people's experiences of healthcare during this period with a person-centered “lens.”

Caregiving and Caregiver Health 1 Year into the COVID-19 Pandemic (CUIDAR-SE Study): A Gender Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of informal care and shown that women continue to shoulder the brunt of responsibilities in this area. In this study, we analyzed differences in caregiving and self-perceived health in a group of informal male and female caregivers 1 year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with male caregivers, female caregivers were more likely to experience increases in caregiving intensity and burden and a decline in self-perceived health as a result of the pandemic.

The European Health Data Space: A step towards digital and integrated care systems

In December 2021, EGIDE, the Expert Group for integrated Care and Digital Health Europe, has launched a paper ‘The European Health Data Space: A step towards digital and integrated care systems’.

The paper aims to represent the views of the chronic disease community. It provides a unique combination of perspectives from academia, healthcare professionals, patients and industry. The authors acknowledge too many patients across Europe are experiencing fragmented and delayed care. COVID-19 has highlighted the weaknesses of our healthcare systems and the need for rapid transformation. The European Health Data Space can act as a catalyst for change in several important areas.

Modified scoping review of the enablers and barriers to implementing primary health care in the COVID-19 context

Since the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978, countries have varied in their progress towards establishing and sustaining comprehensive primary health care (PHC) and realizing its associated vision of 'Health for All'. International health emergencies such as the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic underscore the importance of PHC in underpinning health equity, including via access to routine essential services and emergency responsiveness. This review synthesizes the current state of knowledge about PHC impacts, implementation enablers and barriers, and knowledge gaps across the three main PHC components as conceptualized in the 2018 Astana Framework.

A mixed-method study on the provision of remote consultations for non-communicable disease patients during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia: lessons for the future

he COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the ability of healthcare systems to ensure the continuity of health services for patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The issue of remote consultations has emerged. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, remote consultations were not routinely provided or covered by public health funding in Latvia. This study aimed to describe the dynamics of consultations and the volume of remote consultations provided for patients with particular NCD and explore clinicians’ experiences of providing remote consultations during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia.

A Large-Scale Screening Responding Sporadic Epidemic of COVID-19 in China by an Integrated Health-Care System

In the post-pandemic period of COVID-19, the majority of cities in China try to balance the normalization of epidemic prevention and social-economic development. However, the appearance of asymptomatic infected patients poses threats to public health, which might be infectious without clinical symptoms and only be detected by testing approaches. Along with the appearance of one symptomatic case, a regional large-scale screening program was carried out in Shenzhen City charged by a regionally integrated healthcare system. The large-scale screening contributed to preventing epidemic transmission. The integrated healthcare system coordinating regional medical institutions and optimizing regional medical recourse had advantages to address public health emergencies.

Transforming health care: stories of changemakers across the world

This film weaves together and amplifies the stories from individuals and groups intentionally leading change, wherever they are situated in their respective ‘system’. It reveals some of the many ways that these changemakers have managed to significantly impact their health care environments and improve health outcomes, often through relatively small, local interventions. Their experiences span subjects such as improving patient safety and reducing patient harm; preventing the death of newborns through a model that places parents at the centre of specialized care; transforming mental health programming; addressing the root causes of teenage suicide; saving the lives of babies born with anomalies; or promoting community health and introducing compassion in health leadership. 

 Why transformative approaches in health care?

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the challenging, stressful and highly complex environments that staff working in health and social care must navigate. Health systems are a microcosm of the societies ...

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary health care utilization: an experience from Iran

The Covid-19 pandemic affected the performance of Primary Health Care (PHC) worldwide. This study was performed to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the utilization of PHC in Iran. Covid-19 Pandemic has affected the performance of Iranian PHC at the beginning and overall, has a negative consequence on utilization of services. Preparedness to respond to pandemics and develop programs and interventions is necessary to cover the weaknesses of the PHC.

COVID-19 frontline primary health care professionals’ perspectives on health system preparedness and response to the pandemic in the Mahalapye Health District, Botswana

The World Health Organization issued interim guidelines on essential health system preparedness and response measures for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The control of the pandemic requires healthcare system preparedness and response. This study aimed to evaluate frontline COVID-19 primary health care professionals’ (PHC-Ps) views on health system preparedness and response to the pandemic in the Mahalapye Health District (MHD). In March 2020, the Botswana Ministry of Health directed health districts to educate their health professionals about COVID-19. One hundred and seventy frontline PHC-Ps were trained in MHD; they evaluated the health system’s preparedness and response. More than half of the participants gave a low score to the MHD regarding the health system’s preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies are required to determine the causes of such attitudes and to be better prepared to respond effectively.

The role of primary care in informing and supporting people with limited health literacy in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, people have been confronted with a large amount of information about the virus and the governmental measures against its spreading. However, more than a quarter of individuals have limited health literacy (HL), meaning that they have difficulty finding, understanding, and applying health information. The purpose of this interview study was to investigate how individuals with limited HL acquire information about COVID-19 and governmental measures, what difficulties they experience in understanding and applying it, and what may be needed to overcome these difficulties. We also addressed other problems that they might face as a result of the pandemic. Using our findings, we aimed to make recommendations on the possible role of primary care in informing and supporting patients with limited HL during the pandemic.

Strong Integrated Care Systems Everywhere

One of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that people need support which is joined up across local councils, the NHS and voluntary and community organisations. This video explains how Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) embed this collaboration, helping local services to respond to the challenges of the pandemic and beyond. We want to make ICSs as strong and effective as possible in every part of England, with partnership working with the ambition to tackle health inequalities, help communities thrive and achieve the very best for everyone. For more information visit: www.england.nhs.uk/integratedcare/

Primary health care led recovery from COVID-19 in Costa Rica for underserved communities

Communities in Costa Rica were badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A project in 2020, coordinated by the government of Costa Rica and PAHO/WHO country office showed that community engagement in primary health care could be a path to better tackling wider health and social challenges.

Building health and care system resilience and recovery

In April 2020, one month after many countries across the world went into lockdown and health and care systems in many countries were dealing with the consequences of the pandemic, the International Foundation for Integrated Care launched a webinar series over five months. We convened integrated care practitioners from across the world to share their immediate experience of coping with this challenge and the effect it was having on care and outcomes.

The International Foundation for Integrated Care are revisiting some of the webinars from the original series in the Autumn 2022. We will be bringing together international panels to explore the experience of integrated care in the context of the pandemic response, what we learnt and are taking forward to build health and care system resilience and recovery in different countries and what still needs to be learnt. We will link this to the Foundation’s 9 pillars of ...

Patients’ preferences for telemedicine versus in-clinic consultation in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Hybrid Patient Care system integrates telehealth and in-clinic consultation. While COVID-19 increased telehealth use, healthcare providers are still seeking the best combination of virtual and in-clinic consultation. Understanding patients’ tele-consultation-related preferences is vital for achieving optimal implementation. The discrete choice experiment (DCE) is the stated preference technique for eliciting individual preferences and is increasingly being used in health-related applications. The study purpose was to evaluate attributes and levels of the DCE regarding patients’ preferences for telemedicine versus traditional, in-clinic consultation in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to facilitate successful implementation.

Integration of mental health support teams in COVID-19 units within French general hospitals: a qualitative study

This study aimed to explore the lived experience of mental health professionals (mhPs) who had been redeployed on support teams (MHSTs) implemented in general hospital for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and their families, in order to scale up mental and physical health care integration in times of epidemic crisis.

Person- and family-centered approach of integrated care (IC) is essential to address fragmentation between mental and physical health care in times of epidemic crisis. Hospital and political leaders should support and draw from bottom-up mental health IC initiatives such as MHSTs, that embody this vision, in order to improve health systems preparedness for future crises.

Learning from long COVID: integrated care for multiple long-term conditions

Long COVID is a multisystem condition requiring a range of medical, therapeutic, and psychological inputs. Given the complexity of the illness affecting multiple organ systems, often impacting physical and mental health, individuals can be heavy healthcare users across primary, secondary, and emergency services.

The long COVID clinics commissioned in England have provided an opportunity to innovate within a complex care pathway, bringing multiple providers together to meet needs broader than has been historically possible for many other complex conditions. Designing these new services from a blank page has enabled teams to co-create services with patient groups and work more effectively in an integrated way. Significant benefits have been seen, including skills transference between professions.