People Powered Health

The idea

People Powered Health is a programme to support the design and delivery of innovative services for people living with long term health conditions (LTCs).

The problem

Long term health conditions (LTCs) affect more than 15 million people in England. While those living with LTCs do face challenges, they also have the capacity to manage their own health and lives to a great extent, given the right support. While this is increasingly recognised, there is still relatively little experience of how it can be achieved.

In addition to this, LTCs are placing an incredible strain on the NHS financially, costing billions of pounds annually. It is estimated that LTCs account for £7 of every £10 spent on health and social care in this country. And over the next quarter of a century the number of people with long term conditions will rise by an estimated 23%.

Solutions to the problem need to be radical, changing culture as well as transforming practice. Structural changes such as those outlined in the NHS reforms are not going to be enough.

What are we doing?

People Powered Health is looking to solve these challenges. Along with the Innovation Unit, we are working with teams around the UK to support and scale new models of care for those with LTCs, which represent a fundamental shift in the role of patients and professionals.

Instead of being passive recipients of care, People Powered Health puts patients in the driving seat, recognising them as people with assets who can contribute to their own and others' care. Professionals use their clinical expertise to facilitate better health outcomes, both directly and by linking patients to wider support networks.

So what makes People Powered Health?

• Roles - traditional roles of patients and professionals are transformed as people are supported to take more control of their own health
• Relationships - people do more with and for each other
• Services - services stop being about institutions and focus on individuals and communities  
• Systems - healthcare systems adapt to support People Powered Health

When all four of these elements work together, the results are transformative. People Powered Health solutions improve the quality of life for those living with LTCs and have the potential to deliver significant savings for the NHS. To find out more about these elements and how they work in practice, click on the links above.

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Find out how Nesta and Innovation Unit are delivering People Powered Health

For an overview of our six teams, click on the links at the side. You can also find more information on how our teams were originally selected.

The background

People Powered Health services build on the concept of co-production to improve the quality of life for patients, as well as reducing costs for the NHS.