Beyond Static Blueprints: Reimagining Models of Care
Sarah Szabo, Board Director Xstitch Health
Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash
What Are Models of Care?
Models of care (also known as models of practice) are more than theoretical constructs - they're the architectural blueprints of care and service delivery. These frameworks are critical in translating principles into tangible, implementable strategies (Davidson, 2006).
Models of care represent complex systems that outline how services are organised, delivered and experienced. In an era of increasingly rapid change, the time is right to challenge traditional static definitions. Models of care should be viewed as dynamic processes rather than fixed templates (Roder-DeWan, 2023). This perspective emphasises adaptability, continuous improvement and responsiveness to changing community needs. Models of care can move beyond theoretical constructs, to practical tools for transforming service delivery.
What Effective Models of Care Look Like
The pursuit of excellence in health and social care is an active, data-driven commitment. Research by Balding and Leggat (2020) in Australian hospitals reveals the transformative potential of well-designed care models. They found signs of increased clinical engagement in hospitals where a strategic quality management system, including a defined care model, promoted a whole of organisation approach to quality. Key performance indicators in their research demonstrate remarkable improvements, such as hand hygiene compliance and patient falls rate improvement.
A comprehensive analysis by Strokosch and Roy (2025) highlighted that having a clear strategic user orientation, which emphasises value outcomes, is necessary to understand need and resources.
Scarbrough and Kyratsis's (2022) research highlights that successful organisations don't just implement care models - they create adaptive ecosystems that continuously evolve, innovate, and respond to emerging challenges.
Barriers to Implementing Excellent Care Models
Despite recognising best practices, health and social care organisations face significant obstacles:
Deeply entrenched organisational cultures resistant to change
Chronic underfunding of innovation initiatives
Limited leadership skills in systemic transformation (Fulop and Ramsay, 2023)
Structural constraints within fragmented healthcare systems
The Xstitch Approach: Reimagining Care Delivery
Xstitch Health offers a sophisticated, purpose-driven strategy for challenging traditional healthcare approaches. By reimagining the intersection of health and social care delivery, we create evidence-based solutions that address systemic limitations.
Our methodology isn't about abandoning existing systems, but transforming them. We view models of care as dynamic frameworks that can be continuously refined to meet evolving community needs.
If you're a healthcare professional, NGO leader or policymaker frustrated by systemic limitations, Xstitch offers a path forward with actionable, innovative solutions.
Ready to reimagine your model?
References
Balding, C., & Leggat, S. (2021). Making high quality care an organisational strategy: Results of a longitudinal mixed methods study in Australian hospitals. Health services management research, 34(3), 148–157.
Davidson, P., Halcomb, E., Hickman, L., Phillips, J., & Graham, B. (2006). Beyond the rhetoric: what do we mean by a 'model of care'?. The Australian journal of advanced nursing : a quarterly publication of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation, 23(3), 47–55.
Fulop, N. J., & Ramsay, A. I. G. (2023). Governance and Leadership. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Roder-DeWan, S., Madhavan, S., Subramanian, S., Nimako, K., Lashari, T., Bathula, A. N., Sathurappan, R., Kumar, S., & Chopra, M. (2023). Service delivery redesign is a process, not a model of care. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 380, e071651.
Scarbrough, H., & Kyratsis, Y. (2022). From spreading to embedding innovation in health care: Implications for theory and practice. Health care management review, 47(3), 236–244.
Strokosch, K., & Roy, M. (2024). Health and social care integration: fixing a fixed service ecosystem for value co-creation. Public Management Review, 27(3), 794–816.