The North Shore area of VCH-Coastal is reporting good preliminary results for patient care as they pilot a new approach called GP Care Conferencing for helping Home and Community Care (HCC) clients in transition or with complex health needs. The initiative involves two or more health professionals — one of which is a GP — connecting in a structured planned dialogue to care plan for mutually shared clients.
The number of structured North Shore GP care conferences with HCC clinicians has increased dramatically over the past three months and is expected to continue growing as clinical staff and GPs identify appropriate clients. Currently, HCC clinicians are the ones initiating care conferences with GPs, however, eventually GPs are expected to start the care conferencing process themselves as well.
Phase one of this initiative involved trialing GP Care Conferencing solely with North Shore HCC case managers and GPs. Feedback from case managers was incorporated into the current rollout phase which involves all North Shore HCC clinical staff in this Integrated Primary & Community Care (IPCC) initiative. VCH-Coastal staff are taking a phased in approach over three years that they hope will accelerate the formation of integrated primary and community care teams.
For more information about GP Care Conferencing, contact Jane Macnutt, IPCC Regional Community Lead on the North Shore or Roy Laube, Manager of Home & Community Care at 604-986-7111.