At Christmas we all want to be at home with our family and loved ones - so on Christmas Day our first theme just had to be Home First and Reablement
The Swindon reablement project came from practitioners reviewing a sample of cases for patients discharged from an acute setting over a 6-month period and asking: “was the best outcome for the person achieved?”.
Results showed that in 45% of cases where someone was discharged to a residential care setting, they would have achieved a better outcome had they been supported to return home (either directly with domiciliary reablement, or via intermediate residential reablement). You can read all about Swindons project here
Islington Pharmacy Reablement Service- goal-orientated package of care provided to appropriate individuals by Health & Social Services. These individuals are often on multiple medications for several long-term conditions and would benefit from a medication review and support from a pharmacist.Anecdotal reports suggested that medication-related problems were commonly encountered during Reablement carer visits. These problems included; insufficient medication information provided on discharge from hospital, lack of assessment of patients’ medication-related needs prior to discharge, multiple supplies of different medication and service user inability to manage their medications independently. You can read about this Pharmacy Domicillary Reablement service here
Getting patients Home First in Medway
The concept of ‘Discharge to Assess’ is not a new one – improving patient flow across the health economy; supporting more efficient discharges; and providing the option for more patients to recover at home are all common aims for acute and community providers.A number of trusts and providers across the UK have implemented a system whereby community teams support their local acute hospital with OT, equipment and patient support packages to improve discharges.
But consistent, measurable success isn’t well documented. This has all changed with Medway Community Healthcare’s (MCH) Home First scheme which you can find here
THE CASE FOR CHANGE Consider the following statements:
• Imagine leaving your home and never returning to it again
• Imagine someone tells you that you are moving house tomorrow and you have no control over where you are moving to and how much it will cost.
This is what we do to thousands of older people every year. Many older people are admitted to hospital with a mild to moderate illness on top of any pre-existing conditions. We make judgements about how the person will manage when they return home based on perceptions about the person after the effects of a stay in hospital, often prolonged. We assess them in an environment that is alien and confusing. Read about the Home First Philosophy here