How Care Homes Bridge the Hospital-Social Care Gap
The NHS is under extreme pressure this winter, with a solution to its problems seemingly out of reach. Yet, when broken down, some issues can be tackled – and this is where care homes can take some of the burden.
Improving patient flow
The media is full of stories of ambulance waits outside hospitals, with no space in A&E for their patients. Inside A&E, many patients treated can go home, but there are others that need to be admitted. With ward beds already full, the system backs up and patients are placed in corridors for hours at a time.
Freeing up beds on wards enables A&E patients to flow through the system, freeing emergency wards. An oversimplified version of what’s happening maybe, but it’s also accurate and undeniable.
Layers of added complications cloud both the issue and solutions; but, at Adore Care, our short-term stays care packages are the antidote to bed-blocking for many patients currently in hospital.
Care Crisis
In early summer 2022, the British Medical Association (BMA) highlighted the ‘ticking time bomb’ that we’re facing in social care. It seems that we’re now feeling it. Social care has endured years of chronic underfunding and is dealing with severe staffing shortages. Set this against the backdrop of a growing elderly population and it means that we’re looking at a gap between the care and support on offer and the number of people that are counting on it.*
Moving the Medically Fit
There’s comes a point at which keeping people in hospital is the wrong course of treatment for them. They are medically fit, having worked through the issue they were admitted with; however, their levels of inactivity during their stay causes loss of muscle function and deconditioning. The longer they stay in hospital, the more prone to infection they become, with Covid, flu and infections, such as C Difficile, posing a continuous threat to them. While they no longer need medical treatment, they do still need lots of care, attention and support. Sorting out funding for the next step can take around six weeks and with the shortage of carers that the BMA noted now hugely apparent, there’s no way an in-home care package can be put in place for people quickly.**
Short-Term Stays
At Weavers Court, our management team has years of experience in the care home sector and bring with them a wealth of knowledge of, not only how to look after and care for residents but also what the families are having to deal with. The patient’s voice is key in taking decisions that concern them, but they’re in a weakened state; not unwell enough for hospital and not well enough to return to life as normal at home. It’s falling to the families to work out how they can plug the gap, but that are also maybe not yet at the stage of considering a care home full-time.
Our short-term stays offer a middle ground, where a patient becomes a resident and moves away from the hospital to receive targeted care and attention that’s tailored to their exact needs. We’ll work with people to help them regain their strength and spirit, with nutritious meals and activities that they can get engaged in.
Safety In Numbers
While social care shortages may be endemic across the system, our care home is fully staffed. We also understand that this is a short-term arrangement and one that is often being considered at high speed and under stressful conditions. In a situation that is so much about numbers – waiting figures, numbers of beds, weeks and months in hospital – we’ve worked hard on our offer to help those considering short-term stay, but not only offering a reduced weekly fee of £1,100, down from £1,295 but a package that is all-inclusive with no billable extras.
We’re here to help please call us on 0113 465 3000 to discuss your requirements and get things moving.
**https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tears-nhs-crumbles-25934893