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Joining forces to improve intermediate care

Joining forces to improve intermediate care
27 March 2015

NHS Barnsley Clinical Commissioning Group and Barnsley Council have been undertaking a review of the way intermediate care is designed and delivered across Barnsley.

Plans have now been drawn up which will see all the services working alongside each other to provide a much more co-ordinated package of care and support.

Intermediate care is a service that is provided by qualified health and social care staff to care for you in the community when you are poorly.  Intermediate care describes a range of services which support someone’s recovery and rehabilitation and re-build their confidence so that they can remain in their own home or return home after a spell in hospital.  They also offer the opportunity for further recovery before making a decision about long term care needs. Intermediate care services are available for up to six weeks.

If people have been to hospital to have tests or x-rays in the emergency department or if they have been in hospital but still need 24 hour care and support, they can then be referred to the service instead of staying in the hospital.

There are currently seven different parts to the service in Barnsley and they all work as different teams.  Over the next year, the teams will come together to trial working as a single Intermediate Care service to support residents.

There will be one assessment, so people only have to tell their story once and one person co-ordinating the care. When someone is ready to be discharged out of Intermediate care, a clear plan will be agreed with them and their family and the people involved in their ongoing support. The single service will include beds in the community if needed for a short time, but the CCG and council also want to improve the way people are supported to stay at home.

Over the course of this year, there will be series of events and ways people can feed back about the different services and the way they are working.  For more details on the plans visit www.barnsleyccg.nhs.uk/<http://www.barnsleyccg.nhs.uk/>

Dr Nick Balac, GP and Chair of Barnsley CCG said: “We’ve known for a long time that too many people – especially older people – are staying for too long in hospital and this often makes it harder for them to return home and live independently again. We’ve talked to patients and carers and one of the common things they tells us is that they often feel like they’re starting from scratch every time they see a new service.

“We’ve designed a service that we hope will do away with that and make it much simpler for patients and those supporting them.”

Councillor Jenny Platts, Cabinet Spokesperson for Communities, said: “We welcome the changes to the service. By having one service we hope that people can access support quickly from a range of services by having just one assessment. The trial of a new Intermediate Care service will play an important part in supporting residents to live independently in their own communities.”