Keep it local.

摘要

For Barking and Dagenham PCT's rapid response team, pioneering ways of keeping people with long-term illnesses away from hospital is helping them to see possibilities for community services in a new light. Led by intermediate care clinical services manager Marcia Osuno and her geriatrician colleague Robert Fowler, the 20-strong team is regarded as a model of multidisciplinary community working. Already, out of a monthly referral rate of about 200 patients, the team is diverting about 70 away from hospital admission. Referrals are received directly from any member of the primary care team.