Adapting health and social care in the wake of COVID‑19
HPP developed a think piece exploring areas in which gaps exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic could be addressed to help build more robust health and social care systems.
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the headlines in 2020, affecting almost every aspect of our lives and exposing multiple gaps in our health and social care systems.
The burden of COVID-19 stretches far beyond the disease itself. Its impact on health, wellbeing and economies will likely be felt for years to come. And the redeployment of healthcare services to combat the pandemic has interrupted public health prevention efforts and care for many people, including those living with chronic conditions.
But despite the devastation it has caused, the pandemic’s exposure of existing weaknesses in health and social care offers us an opportunity to focus political will on reinforcing our care systems.
In this think piece, published in June 2020, we look across some of the areas in which we are currently working to identify key strategic issues that will need to be addressed in post-pandemic plans and policies.
These issues are likely to linger as we emerge from this health crisis – and are applicable across many countries. They will need to be remedied if we are to protect the health and wellbeing of our populations and prepare our systems for any global health emergencies we may face in the future.
Downloads
What we’ve achieved
As we gradually emerge from the pandemic, our healthcare systems will need to move from crisis mode to a post-pandemic approach. The HPP team researched, wrote and designed the report in which we propose five areas where improvements can be made to safeguard the future of health and social care:
- equitable, person-centred models of care
- recognition that there is no health without mental health
- integration of health and social care
- better information for patients
- digital health and data exchange.
Project funding
This report is an independent think piece from The Health Policy Partnership. It was developed with input from all team members. HPP received no funding for this work.