Reducing emergency hospital admissions: A population health complex intervention of an enhanced model of primary care and compassionate communities

Abstract

Background: Reducing emergency admissions to hospital has been a cornerstone of health care policy. There is little evidence of systematic interventions which achieved this aim across a population. We report the impact on unplanned admissions to hospital through a complex intervention over a 44 month period in Frome, Somerset. Aim: A population health complex intervention of an enhanced model of primary care and compassionate communities to improve population health and reduce emergency admissions to hospital Design: A cohort retrospective study of a complex intervention on all emergency admissions in Frome compared to Somerset from April 2013 to December 2017. Setting: Frome Medical Practice, Somerset Methods: Patients were identified using broad criteria including anyone with cause for concern. Patient centred goal setting and care planning combined with a compassionate community social approach was implemented broadly across the population of Frome. Results: There was a progressive reduction, by 7.9 cases per quarter (95% CI: 2.8, 13.1; p=0.006) in unplanned hospital admissions across the whole population of Frome, over the study period from April 2014 to December 2017. At the same time, there was sharp increase in the number of admissions per quarter, within the Somerset, with an increase in the number of unplanned admissions of 236 per quarter (95% CI: 152, 320; p<0.001). Conclusion: The complex intervention in Frome was associated with highly significant reductions in unplanned admissions to hospital with reduction of healthcare costs across the whole population of Frome