Publish date: 20 May 2025
Setting up the Ealing Crisis Centre, how we provide treatment for care home residents, our psychological support for people managing diabetes and our work to act on patient feedback all took centre stage at the International Conference for Integrated Care last week.
Running from 14 to 16 May in Lisbon, Portugal, the conference brought together over 1,500 health and care professionals interested in sharing learning about integrated care policy, practice and implementation from across the globe.
The conference is now in its 25th year and West London NHS Trust is leading the way in shining a light on its work around integrated care, and was named as a “Knowledge Partner” for sharing its work on the world stage. Our very own Dr Christopher Hilton (WLT Chief Operating Officer for Local Services) is also a member of the International Scientific Committee.
Over 860 abstracts were received by the conference, and among them work from West London NHS Trust features, including:
• Ritika Kochhar et al “Intermediate care in mental health: a pilot model of crisis care to improve patients’ experience and opportunities for admission avoidance” – describing the initiative led by Liaison Psychiatry and Local Services Transformation last year establishing the Ealing Crisis Centre and evaluating the impact on the patient pathway for mental health patients in crisis, which we hope will inform a future sustainable crisis pathway.
• Ritika Kochhar et al “Enhanced multidisciplinary care for residents living in Ealing (UK) care homes - an innovative approach” – outlining work in Ealing Community Partners in delivering a dedicated primary care practice for care home residents, and the establishment of the Care Home Inreach and Liaison Service to improve support for patients with challenging behaviour as part of a dementia syndrome.
• Jennie Persson-Sowacki et al “Integrating Psychological Support in Diabetes Care” – which references previous research by WLT’s Dr Amrit Sachar, and describes the implementation of health psychology interventions in the Ealing Community Partners’ Diabetes Integrated Care Ealing service.
• Chris Hilton et al: “A unique collaboration to amplify patients’ voices in improving inpatient mental health care in a public provider in London” – describing work between AMHS, Local Services Transformation and Your Voice in Health and Social Care to seek and act upon patient feedback in our inpatient mental health settings.
Our joint work with CW+ Charity and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) in the Best for You programme in the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service is also highlighted by CW+ Director James Porter in a poster entitled “Best for You: leveraging communities and those that serve them to provide better mental health care for young people”.
Ealing and Hounslow Borough Based Partnership colleagues, some of whom are hosted within West London NHS Trust, also have their work represented: Ealing: Chris Hilton et al: “Defining integrated health and care priorities for an urban population of 468k in the UK”, which outlines the integrated care landscape and priorities in the borough, and Hounslow: Stirling Rippy and Michael Street “From the Ground Up: Reducing Health Inequalities in Hounslow”, which draws upon the borough’s use of the CORE20PLUS5 approach to improve population health.
As if that weren’t enough, the team has also tracked down colleagues from our North West London Community Collaborative Partners CNWL and Central London Community Healthcare, who are also presenting two pieces of work:
• Dawn March and Hari Atmakur “Optimising Care Pathways for Older People with Frailty: From Prevention to Hospital and Home-Based Support”
• Andrew Ward and Francesco Saccedu “Slow Stream Rehabilitation”.
Local Services’ Chief Operating Officer Dr Christopher Hilton said of the conference:
“I was first introduced to the International Conference for Integrated Care as a Liaison Psychiatry Trainee at West London Trust in 2014, and have attended on a number of occasions over the last decade.
“It is always inspiring to meet people who are passionate about improving health and care services so that everyone experiences joined-up, easy to navigate care that addresses the outcomes that matter to them in their life and the communities in which they live.
“The amazing examples of work that West London NHS Trust and North West London Colleagues are presenting on the conference stages this year exemplify the breadth of activities we’re involved in as an organisation, and our commitment to sharing learning. I hope we’ll all return inspired and energised to put what we’ve learned into practice”.
