The independent Future Hospital Commission was established by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in March 2012 and has now reported.
Access the full report, Future hospital: Caring for medical patients.
The RCP has issued the following initial response:
Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, on the launch of the Future Hospital Commission report Future Hospital: caring for medical patients, said:
This is a once in a generation opportunity to improve the way that we care for medical patients.
When I set up the Commission in March 2012, it was intended to review all aspects of the design and delivery of inpatient hospital care, and to make recommendations to provide patients with the safe, high-quality healthcare that they deserve.
It has done much more than that. The Commission brought together patients and medical and healthcare experts to develop a vision of the future hospital, a hospital which is no longer bound by its walls, but reaches out into the community to care for medical patients.
I am grateful to Sir Michael and the Commission for these radical recommendations, and I can guarantee that the report will not sit on a shelf at the RCP, we will be taking the recommendations forward in our work and looking for opportunities to pilot the recommendations in Trusts and elsewhere. Our patients deserve it.
Ms Suzie Hughes, chair RCP patient and carer network, said:
As a patient, I am delighted to read the recommendations from the Future Hospital Commission report Future Hospital: Caring for medical patients. This is a life changing initiative and one that puts patients at the centre. The vision of the future hospital created in this report commits to giving patients what they deserve - high quality care based on their needs, in the right place at the right time by compassionate, respectful and highly trained health professions. I am certain that patients across the length and breadth of the country will appreciate this whole systems approach to organising our care.
The emphasis on shared decision-making and specialist care reaching out into the community will also support self-management of care, supporting patients who have long-term conditions with consultant-led care wherever they are and preventing unnecessary admissions and readmissions.
I urge the RCP to take forward the report’s recommendations.
Access the full report, Future hospital: Caring for medical patients.
Join the discussion on twitter using the hashtag #futurehospital.
For further information, please contact Linda Cuthbertson, head of PR, on 0203 075 1254 / 0774 877 7919, or email linda.cuthbertson@rcplondon.ac.uk