Helping to ease the hospital beds crisis

Our Hospital Aftercare Service is playing a vital role in helping reduce the number of unnecessary stays in hospital for older people in Milton Keynes. 

With UK hospitals experiencing unprecedented demand on their services, people are occasionally kept in hospital unnecessarily because medical staff have legitimate concerns that a person’s home is not safe for them to return to.  Or there may not be anyone available to provide practical and emotional support they need in the short term.  Our hospital-based service, which is funded by the NHS Milton Keynes Clinical  Commissioning Group, is helping to free up hospital beds by resolving the practical problems that often prevent older people leaving hospital promptly when they are medically fit and ready.

In the period October to December 2017 we took home, or supported at home following discharge in hospital transport, 257 patients - an increase of over 16% on the previous quarter.  Our service then continued to provide support for up to six weeks to 124 people, an increase of 30% on the previous three months.

Our Handyperson Service fitted key safes at short notice so that 27 patients who rely on carers visiting their home or have mobility problems could return to their home and be safely looked after.  Eight patients were able to leave hospital because our Deep Clean Service made their home safe and hygienic for them to return to.  The majority of people helped by the Hospital Aftercare Service are aged 75-84 years.

Already in January 2018 we have taken home and helped settle in 36 patients. 20 older people are having ongoing support with cleaning, shopping and practical tasks in their home.

Research by the national charity Age UK shows that preventing falls and malnutrition among older people and providing effective community services are some of the best ways to reduce the need for hospital beds.  Not only do older people often arrive at hospital because they have nowhere else to go, but they also stay unnecessarily because of a lack of practical and emotional support when they are well enough to go home.  Our Hospital Aftercare Service aims to provide that support, helping to keep older people independent once they leave and also preventing re-admissions to hospital.  we work with Milton Keynes Council’s Adult Social Care, older people themselves and sometimes with worried family members who do not live near enough to be able to provide the necessary practical support.

For more information, contact the Hospital Aftercare Service on 01908 996073.