Clinical Systems and Networks

The setting of objectives and the choice of criteria relating to the [[healthcare]] provided for a condition such as [[Parkinson's disease|Parkinson Disease]] or [[Renal failure|Renal Failure]] has a number of benefits, notably:

The setting of objectives and the choice of criteria relating to the [[healthcare]] provided for a condition such as [[Parkinson's disease|Parkinson Disease]] or [[Renal failure|Renal Failure]] has a number of benefits, notably:

•It allows a patient to compare the performance of that aspect of healthcare that is of most importance to them.

*It allows a patient to compare the performance of that aspect of healthcare that is of most importance to them.

•It allows those who allocate resources to judge the value that would be added if additional resources were to be invested in that system, at the expense of systems focused on other health problems.

*It allows those who allocate resources to judge the value that would be added if additional resources were to be invested in that system, at the expense of systems focused on other health problems.

It is necessary to have [[closed system]]s like [[hospital]]s and [[primary care]] services to employ staff and ensure money is administered with [[probity]] but they are all parts of an open system of healthcare and changes imposed in any one closed system will have unintended consequences elsewhere through a feedback mechanism that may, or may not, be predictable. Traditional approaches have sought to manage health problems by tighter control of organisations, that cover a wide range of health problems, hospitals and [[Care in the Community|community care]], for example, with patients being referred to the former and discharged to the latter. This two-box approach has many weaknesses, implying, for example, that a hospital is not a community service. Another approach is to present different levels of care as a [[Venn diagram]].

It is necessary to have [[closed system]]s like [[hospital]]s and [[primary care]] services to employ staff and ensure money is administered with [[probity]] but they are all parts of an open system of healthcare and changes imposed in any one closed system will have unintended consequences elsewhere through a feedback mechanism that may, or may not, be predictable. Traditional approaches have sought to manage health problems by tighter control of organisations, that cover a wide range of health problems, hospitals and [[Care in the Community|community care]], for example, with patients being referred to the former and discharged to the latter. This two-box approach has many weaknesses, implying, for example, that a hospital is not a community service. Another approach is to present different levels of care as a [[Venn diagram]].