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Scheme to support patients at home after hospital stays proves a success
19/01/2024
People have better health outcomes supported to live happily and independently in their own home
An Oxfordshire-wide initiative, which is helping people to return home from hospital more quickly, has delivered significant improvements for patients since it was launched in November.
The initiative is called Discharge to Assess. It enables people who have had a stay in hospital to continue their recovery in the comfort of their own home, close to the communities that support them.
The national programme brings together hospital based teams from health, adult social care, therapy and reablement to plan a patient’s best route out of hospital, as well as provide a more joined up way to receive support once at home.
The programme is based on the recognition that people have better health outcomes when they are supported to live happily and independently within their own homes.
The latest weekly figures, reported to the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, show that of the 105 people in Oxfordshire who were medically fit to be discharged from hospital but were still considered as needing additional care support, 91 were enabled to return home to continue their recovery through the D2A pathway.
Karen Fuller, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director for Adult Social Care, said: “By working with NHS colleagues we have significantly changed the way we offer support when a patient with additional needs leaves hospital.
“Our social care teams have restructured, working seven days a week to support discharges over the weekend. We’ve also significantly redesigned our care provider framework, ensuring that we have capacity in the system to support people on the same day that they return home from hospital.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam