‘We’ll be stepping up a range of different services over winter to get people back into their own homes with appropriate support’
A night view of Hull Royal Infirmary(Image: NHS Humber Health Partnership)
Enhanced home support, private providers and rehabilitation care are to be available this winter to free up beds for patients at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital. NHS Humber Health Partnership said it is working with Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and City Health Care Partnership to strengthen community facilities so patients can leave hospital when they’re well enough.
Local accommodation will be used for people who leave hospital with nowhere to live to give them time to recover so they’re not living on the streets during the coldest months after a serious illness or injury. As well as this, more beds will be occupied in community care facilities by former patients well enough to leave hospital but not well enough to go home.
Hospital teams will also work with community and voluntary services to ensure people can return to their own homes with extra support and awareness of services in their community. Rachel Kemp, Deputy Director of Homefirst Transformation, said: “It’s important that people can leave hospital when they’re well enough because research shows people who stay too long in hospital can develop problems like muscle wastage and loss of independence.
“We also need to discharge people who no longer need hospital care quickly so we have beds for patients who need to be admitted onto a ward. We’ll be stepping up a range of different services over winter to get people back into their own homes with appropriate support, into accommodation if they’re homeless and have nowhere to go or into rehabilitation or residential homes if they’re not well enough to go home.”
According to the NHS Humber Health Partnership, same day discharge rates have increased from 20pc to 60pc and bed occupancy rates in intermediate care services have increased from around 50pc to nearer 90pc. More patients are also discharged from hospital on Saturdays and Sundays to create more beds for new admissions.
Hospital teams are also working with the voluntary sector to help people settle back home once they’re discharged, including support with benefits, heating, shopping or loneliness, or supporting them with long-term conditions like COPD which could see them readmitted to hospital. Rachel said: “It’s about ensuring people receive the right service, at the right time, to enable them to recover.”
Last week, people were warned of long waits unless they had a ‘genuine medical emergency’ as the emergency department at Hull Royal Infirmary was under pressure. The Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) said there had been a ‘surge’ of “walking wounded” along with people with seasonal illnesses and viruses turning up at the Hull hospital’s Emergency Care Area.
It comes as visitors to wards and clinical departments at Hull Royal Infirmary have been asked to wear face masks to protect patients from winter illnesses. Staff in all clinical areas of the hospital will be wearing face masks after an increase in patients admitted to hospital with flu, diarrhoea and vomiting and Norovirus.
Is Hull the best place to live in Yorkshire? You can have your say by completing the poll below or by clicking here.