2 hour crisis response: Learning partner

The national UCR 2 hour crisis response team in NHS England and Improvement wish to appoint a learning partner to develop and share practical and actionable learning and knowledge with ICSs and providers of 2 hour crisis response to enable them to deliver on the core national ambitions for rollout by April 2022.

The NHS Long Term Plan set an ambition for a new waiting time standard for crisis response care at home. This is thought to be an NHS and world first standard for care at home. The 2021-22 NHS Contracting and Planning guidance is asking that this service is available in every place in England by April 2022 operating 7 days a week, 12 hours a day and delivering a consistent service.

The two-hour crisis response standard is designed to improve patient outcomes by meeting people's urgent care needs closer to home. The benefits for patients of receiving crisis response care in the community include reducing risks of hospital acquired deconditioning and delirium, meeting people's needs more quickly and providing greater patient choice as part of a personalised approach. The standard supports the delivery of a consistent NHS community offer and includes care home residents.

The ambition of enhancing the capacity and responsiveness of community health services has grown in profile and relevance over the past year. The national Covid-19 response and ongoing recovery has highlighted the importance of providing crisis care within the community to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and accelerated the treatment of people's urgent care needs closer to home or usual place of residence.

We expect this partnership to run from July 2021 to April 2022 with the majority of activity happening between September and January to enable delivery of the above ambitions. Please apply here: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome