“Improving services for people with dementia is a top priority for the NHS and Social Care and this new website gives people another way to access important information about the services available to them and how well they are performing.”
Sir Ian Carruthers, OBE, Chief Executive of NHS South of England
In line with the commitments set out in the Prime Minister’s Dementia Challenge, the Our Health website has been rolled out across the South of England.
The ‘Our Health’ website is the first of its kind in England. It aims to transform the way that patients, their carers and health professionals access and share the latest information on a range of key local health and care services across the South.
The Our Health website was developed in the South West, initially providing information on local stroke and dementia services.
The website received the Prime Minister’s backing in March 2012, when David Cameron launched his ‘Challenge on Dementia’ and set out the need to promote local information on dementia services.
One of the key commitments in the Prime Minister’s Dementia Challenge is that:
- The information offer pioneered by the NHS in the South West will be rolled out across the South by the end of 2012, and
- From April 2013, similar information will be available across all other parts of the country.
As part of the Government’s drive for greater transparency and open data, the Our Health website has been developed as a tool that delivers improved access to information about public services. More and better information helps patients to make crucial decisions about their care and published comparisons help drive up the quality of services.
The site brings together latest information from a wide range of sources and data not currently available, plus networking facilities so that patients and carers can link up to share and compare information and experiences.
Patients, their friends and families will be able to find out more about a particular health condition (initially stroke and dementia) and will be able to see what treatment and services they can expect at different stages. Those visiting the website will be able to click on a map to identify relevant services in their local area. It will be possible to compare these services with other services locally and across the South.
Comparing information about different treatments and services will enable both patients and practitioners to make decisions about their treatment and care.