Evaluation of Workshops for Healthcare, Professional Training in Individualised Care Planning

Background Long-term conditions and their management are a major health problem (Dept. of Health 2006). New government policy requires individual patient care-planning in primary care, (Dept. of Health 2008). Methods Teams from general practices in the West Yorkshire region were invited to attend workshops on the care-planning process. After attendance at these workshops some practices engage in pilot implementation of care-planning models with selected patients with long-term conditions. Initial evaluation focused on workshop participant perceptions of the care-planning process. Group discussions were carried out and analysed for emerging issues to be identified. Results Seven workshop sessions were completed with attendance by General Practitioners, practice nurses, practice managers and others, usually in practice teams. Perceptions identified: care planning includes patients in decision-making; gives patients choice of services; allows pre-visit consultation; improves patient/provider relationship; could increase anxiety in patients; increased bureaucracy; increased consultation time and costs; formalising established practice; further training required to fully implement care-planning. Comments/conclusions It is encouraging that care-planning is receiving increased attention in primary care. Evaluation of the workshops suggests that practitioners want further training in advanced consultation skills and behavioural interventions, in order to implement care-planning successfully.