Working together for admission avoidance and discharge – trusted assessor pilot
Scheme
Who?
Connect Health Care
Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust
The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
What
The aim is to provide community-led interventions in emergency departments (EDs) and acute medical units (AMUs) and with the frailty team to enable adults to be discharged and supported at home as an alternative to admission.
Why?
Reasons for setting up the scheme include:
- increased demand for hospital places because of the ageing population and resulting funding pressures
- support for the aims of the Home First scheme.
When?
After a successful nine-month pilot, the scheme has been extended until June 2020 and more staff have been employed.
How?
The trusted assessor’s role is to carry out clinical work and to develop and evaluate the service. It includes community physiotherapy and occupational therapy in-reaching.
The role works into the ED and AMU
Challenges
There were a number of challenges to setting up the scheme:
- limited resources – only one Band 7 therapist (job share) was employed and the role includes service development, resulting in clinical hours being part-time
Impact
There has been positive feedback from people who use services, families and professionals. Outcomes include:
- majority home same day
- greater understanding of risk acceptance.
Case study
Lucy, aged 82, was admitted to ED with a suspected cerebrovascular accident (CVA). She was having trouble standing and was leaning to one side.
Lucy’s son explained while attending