Birmingham PCTs sign up for Pfizer self-care project

Two PCTs in Birmingham are to be the first in the UK to implement a community self-care project in which patients with diabetes and other long-term conditions will receive regular telephone support at home by trained community nurses.

The OwnHealth project, which will be run by UK Pfizer Health Solutions in conjunction with NHS Direct, will cover North and East Birmingham PCTs, and will be aimed at patients with diabetes, long-term heart failure and cardiovascular disease.

Patients will be phoned at home by their own ‘care manager’, a specially-trained nurse, at set appointment times. Every patient will have one care manager, and will know them by name.

The patient’s care manager will use specially-designed decision support software in order to systematically ensure their needs are being met, and give them necessary advice. Patients will be able to call their own care managers to ask for advice, if they feel that a trip to the GP is not necessary.

The software will help the care managers develop care plans for patients that encourage them to be directly involved in managing their own conditions. A total of ten care managers will be involved, one for each practice in the scheme, and they will be employed by NHS Direct.

UK Pfizer Health Solutions, a group within Pfizer that is independent of the main medicines arm of the business, until now has only operated the OwnHealth project within the US. East and North Birmingham PCTs, in association with Birmingham and the Black Country SHA, have commissioned the project. The company has promised to share results and evidence taken from their study of OwnHealth with the NHS.

Jo Phillips, head of business development at the company, told delegates at last week’s NHS Direct stakeholder conference that they wanted to start off by trialling the scheme over here: "We know this programme does work in the US but there’s no published evidence this works in the UK."

Patients with diabetes, long-term heart failure and cardiovascular disease will be recruited in four areas around Birmingham: Kingstanding, Oscott, Washwood Heath and Bordesley Green, where there are higher concentrations of people with chronic health problems. "We haven’t chosen the easiest areas," said Phillips.

She stressed that the extra services would build on the support already provided by the two PCTs. "It’s not replacing any of the additional services in the PCTs. The patient is in the middle of everything that happens."

A Pfizer spokesperson told E-Health Insider that questions about care managers’ access to patient records held at GP surgeries were still being worked on, but that the point of the project was to help patients take care of themselves: "It’s down to the individuals on the programme. A key element of the programme is to empower the individual to take control of their own health."

The OwnHealth project will start in April 2006, and is currently recruiting clinical staff.