White paper: Community healthcare: how can we bring health closer to home?

It has long been an ambition of the Department of Health and Social Care to boost ‘out-of-hospital’ care and rebalance the activity between primary care and secondary hospital care. The aim of community care is to keep people well at home and in community settings, and support people to live independently. How does community care fit into the NHS long-term plan, particularly when considering challenges the NHS faces? How has it been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic? What does community care mean for the older patient and palliative care? This white paper examines these questions and more, to consider the