Health and housing: building the evidence base

This Housing LIN Report concludes that housing and related services can promote integrated care, save the NHS money and improve the patient experience.

Tracey Faraday-Drake, Director of the Living Well for Longer Programme at KSS AHSN, and who commissioned the report stated:

“This report confirms how important it is for older people to be better supported in their own homes so that they can live more independent lives outside of hospital. It reinforces KSS AHSN’s Living Well for Longer focus: to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions for older people and, to that end, to consider new and innovative models of care to help achieve this goal. We are committed to working with members and partners across Kent, Surrey and Sussex with the shared ambition to keep older people out of hospital and better enabling them to live healthier, more active lives in their communities for longer.”

Jeremy Porteus, managing director of the Housing LIN and co-author of the report, said:

“With the NHS and social care services under unprecedented strain, commissioners and providers cannot afford to ignore the potential savings and better integrated care they could achieve by working with local housing services.

“They should be involving housing in discussions and planning around integration, transformation and budget-setting. Keeping people out of hospital – and discharging them promptly when they are medically fit – are key to the NHS surviving in its current form. Our report highlights the many innovative ways in which housing with care and housing-related services can contribute to achieving that vital goal.”