NHS and council working together to get patients home quicker from Blackpool hospitals

The Transfer of Care Hub made up of NHS and social care staff, which oversees hospital discharges seven days a week , is now well established and still being developed

A council update report on the service says: “Further adult social care staff recruitment has now ensured that a full complement of staff is in place to support the service.

“This team is proving effective in managing the journey from the acute and peripheral hospitals, and support on average 100 people a week to determine the best place of discharge and then source and arrange this.

“Ward staff still discharge more physically able patients directly; but due to concerns about how some of these people manage post discharge, we have incorporated a support work role into this team to follow up on people sent home via this route.

“This has picked up and supported a number of people who were failing to manage and avoided potential readmissions to hospital.”

The council is working closely with Blackpool Teaching Hospitals as part of moves to free up hospital beds and reduce waiting times for treatment.

The ARC (Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre) on Clifton Avenue, Marton, which has 33 beds, has been used for several years to provide care for patients who are ready to leave hospital but need further recuperation.

However the complexity of care required has increased requiring the expansion of nursing services and the introduction of daily GP visits.

The report adds: “As a result, the ARC has increased its general staffing cohort to ensure adequate staffing is available to meet higher care needs.

“A clinical lead nurse role to support the nurses delivering the clinical care of the people accessing ARC has strengthened our care delivery.

“Furthermore, working with colleagues at the Adelaide Street GP Practice and our Integrated Care Board (CCG) Commissioners, we successfully developed a daily visiting GP service, enabling the ARC team to better care for people with very complex medical conditions on site at ARC without needing to be referred or conveyed to hospital.”