Across King’s Health Partners we are often asked what added value the Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) and its associated Clinical Academic Groups (CAGs) bring to the table. Our overall ambition, clearly set out in our Strategic Framework, is to achieve better health and well-being for our local population and beyond, and we will ultimately be judged by what we achieve in this respect.  Writing in The Lancet recently, Victor Dzau (Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University and President and CEO of Duke University Medical Centre) and colleagues from Duke University Medical Centre comment that of all the possible metrics to assess the success or failure of an AHSC human health is the most important.  We know that the health of much of the population that we serve is poor, with severe inequalities.   Although it may be years before there is important improvement, I believe that King’s Health Partners can play a major role in improving in the health of the people of South East London.

The key to our success will be integration and collaboration. Integration of the clinical activities of Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital is essential. This will give our services critical mass in terms of size, staff capability, and facilities.  For example, the joint cardiovascular service will be the largest and most comprehensive in London.  Joint services across the two Trusts will also avoid unnecessary duplication and make us more efficient and cost effective – vital in the current economic climate.

Although the functional integration of the two Trusts is a necessary condition for King’s Health Partners to make progress towards its vision, it is certainly not sufficient on its own.  It is the integration within the CAGs of clinical care, research and education and training that will provide the additional dimension that can contribute to the transformation of healthcare.

Currently the healthcare system in the UK is fragmented, with poor continuity of care across community, primary, secondary, and tertiary care settings.  Care delivery, from community to tertiary care needs to be integrated, minimising the barriers that our patients face as they pass up and down clinical pathways.  This integration requires information sharing and robust IT support.  A major opportunity of a vertically integrated healthcare system - where community and hospital based health services come together - is the opportunity to achieve effective public health, which is essential to improving the health of our populations and also important if we are to deliver healthcare that is affordable and sustainable in the tougher economic climate we face.

Guy’s and St Thomas’, on behalf of King’s Health Partners, has recently been successfully selected by NHS Lambeth and NHS Southwark as the preferred partner to manage community services across the two boroughs from April 2011. When implemented, this organisational change will be an important step in vertical integration, with community staff becoming part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ – and therefore King’s Health Partners. This is an exciting development. It will allow us to work together, across the traditional boundaries so that more care can be delivered, when appropriate, outside of the hospital setting. This will benefit our patients, so they receive not only seamless care, but also care in the most appropriate location in the future.

In essence, it will allow us to play a leadership role in the development of an integrated healthcare system across South East London. An integrated, sustainable healthcare system will allow us to succeed in our ultimate goal of improving the health and well-being of the population of South East London and beyond and will ensure our AHSC drives significant, positive change.