{"id":21604,"date":"2012-10-23T12:01:40","date_gmt":"2012-10-23T11:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=21604"},"modified":"2012-10-23T12:01:59","modified_gmt":"2012-10-23T11:01:59","slug":"muir-gray-defining-the-population-for-systems-of-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2012\/10\/23\/muir-gray-defining-the-population-for-systems-of-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Muir Gray: Defining the population for systems of care"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MuirRead the rest of this series of blogs about designing and planning population based systems of care here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 2: Defining the Population<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having defined the scope of the system, what is to be included and what is to be left out, the second step is to define the population to be covered and served by the service.<\/p>\n

It is essential to define the population to be served precisely, and even when the system is related to a particular bureaucratic entity like a CCG the population needs to be specified in terms of the practice and local authority populations that will be covered. For example, in the paper launching the design of a system for frail elderly people in Oxfordshire by the PCT\/CCG this precondition was emphasised as follows\u2014the limits of the population called “Oxfordshire” will need to be defined. In addition localities will need definition.<\/p>\n

The population of the CCG seems an obvious population to use in system design, but there are a number of weaknesses or constraints which need to be taken into account if a population based system with a focus on patients and populations, not organisations, is to be designed\u2014for example:<\/p>\n