WORCESTERSHIRE has proved itself a leading light in world healthcare after welcoming a Portuguese delegation who hope to keep their older people out of hospital.

The delegation, which arrived on Tuesday, were keen to learn the lessons of a more integrated healthcare system with Worcestershire recommended as one of the best examples of joined-up thinking.

They were especially keen to learn about "Well Connected", described as an ambitious and exciting programme to transform health and social care in Worcestershire.

The Well Connected programme brings together all the local NHS organisations; Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and the three Clinical Commissioning Groups, Worcestershire County Council, Healthwatch and key representatives from the voluntary sector, West Midlands Ambulance Service and NHS England.

Between them these organisations manage acute hospitals, community hospitals, mental health service, public health and social care.

Because of this integrated approach between these organisations in Worcestershire the county is one of 14 approved pioneers from which others can learn.

The delegates visited the Timberdine rehabilitation unit, the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bromsgrove and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

Dr Harling said: “There are some things we’re doing really well. It is an opportunity to come and learn from us. It is also an opportunity for us to learn about what is going on elsewhere in the world.

“Every part of the developing world is struggling with the same issues. More and more people need health and social care and there is less and less money to be able to pay for it.”

Dr Harling said there were a lot of similarities between what was happening in Portugal and in the UK.

He added: “Our staff are proud to be working in a system that has achieved international recognition.”

Germano Couto, bastonário (president) of the Ordem Dos Enfermeiros (the nurses’ council), said they were told about Well Connected by the Royal College of Nurses and they were particularly interested in reducing the need for older people to be cared for in an acute hospital, exploring instead other types of care including care being delivered at home.

Nine nurses from the organisation attended with him to see how care was delivered in Worcestershire.

He wants to increase the number of nurses, of which he believes there is a shortage in Portugal, to prevent hospital admissions.

He said: “We are trying to replicate this in Portugal in one place (a pilot) but we are trying to influence national policy. It is about prevention and the promotion of health.

"We want elderly people to be treated in their homes first and, if that isn’t possible, to care for them in a nursing care home and only in the very last cases in a hospital. Hospitals are only for acute health problems.”

He said he hoped this model would ultimately be better for patients and save money through prevention.