Interim Care Hotels
Abicare Care Hotel Project
Contact usSince the start of Covid Abicare have been commissioned to set up over 20 interim Care Hotels, and five alternative care facilities to support local provision
Pressure on NHS Trusts and the care system
Even with the latest wave of Covid infections beginning to reduce and the numbers of those affected by the virus occupying hospital beds on the decrease, NHS Trusts are still ‘running hot’ or operating close to or beyond full capacity.
This affects both the ability of trusts to deliver day to day treatment and care but also stops them looking ahead to address the large treatment backlogs that have built up in the system prior to and as a result of the pandemic.
Trusts and their partners remain keen to explore all medically safe ways to locate additional capacity in the system in both the short and medium term. A key constraint for them continues to be the availability of staff and beds due to lack of capacity in the community. An increasingly effective solution – tried with success across parts of the country – is the use of Interim Care Hotels as ancillary care facilities for patients located within reasonable distance of trusts.
Hotels with the required staffing and care facilities have proved themselves able to deliver these options in a range of areas including Cornwall, Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Devon, and Norfolk. This has speeded up the transfer from hospital of patients typically awaiting discharge back into suitable home and care settings.
The Interim Care Hotel Model
Abicare’s care provision offered in hotels – including sites in Cornwall, Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Devon, and Norfolk – has alleviated hospital pressures by facilitating discharge pathways.
Traditionally the model is delivered to patients medically fit to return home or to their Care Home but are unable to due to current challenges that exist in the care sector.
The Interim Care Hotels were initiated to assist hospitals to deal with the pandemic and patient throughput ensuring they retained the capacity to treat Covid, infected individuals. This alternative care provision was designed to enable patients to go home as early as possible along a discharge to assess (D2a) pathway avoiding the challenges of hospital induced dependency and again alleviating both any hospital pressures and provider capacity pressures in the community.
As the UK moves out of the most intense phases of Covid the capacity for these is being remodeled and providing the same service but it is being used to ensure hospital throughput and to offer an alternative to patients needing rehab, waiting for home repairs, or a provider to have the capacity to support them.
The model can mobilise quickly having created the capacity to deliver to over 400 patients across several counties in just ten days.
Personnel to staff the facilities will continue to be recruited from outside the UK health and care system – across the full range of specialisms required.
Abicare approaches local hotels with the CCG or LA to make the contracting arrangements for the service. The hotels provide the Estates and hospitality and various solutions for primary care and therapies are available.
Case Study
A hotel in Plymouth is one of the many hotels in the South of England that is currently an Interim Care Hotel easing pressure on NHS services.
Workers provided by Abicare have been recruited from abroad (including from Spain and Greece) to support the 30 hospital patients who have been discharged from local hospitals.
The model provides live-in care to patients, with staff staying on the upper floors and patients below with assisting patients to get ready for discharge once care packages and other support are ready a key component. The cost of care for each bed is less than half of an NHS bed
Addressing Key Challenges
For Local Authorities, CCGs, and the care sector the key issues faced include:
- Ongoing pressures for hospitals, including staffing challenges, hospital waiting lists needing to be cleared suggesting that people waiting can realistically be expected to rise (Figures suggest-from the current 4.2 million increasing to around 10 million) by the end of this year. A cumulative backlog of patients and slower throughput affecting waiting lists at these levels will have a dramatic impact on the system as a whole and on the lives of the patients involved. Reducing an average short-term Length of Stay by one day can increase throughput by 20%.
- The effect of vaccination requirements which although no longer mandatory for health service staff has had a detrimental impact on Domiciliary Care and HomeCare provision, due to reduced staffing capacity.
- The effect of moving out of lockdown impacting increased infection in the community and therefore the capacity in hospitals- added to current and future winter pressures.
- The effects of Social workers doing more assessments and referrals (we saw a significant drop in referrals across the sector during Covid-19). With more patients visiting hospitals and needing care on their return home there is an increased number of individuals requiring social care for which there is limited capacity in the community.
- The challenges faced by care homes with Test and Trace/Covid second wave and staff needing to isolate at a time when referrals and assessments are potentially increasing.
- The effect of individuals who have been looking after relatives moving out of furlough and therefore requiring assistance for their relatives who need care as they return to work. The system is seeing a number of Trusts under strain and requiring alternative solutions for throughput. Hotel care is an ideal response that is easily available, currently does not suffer the same staffing challenges as other services and is very flexible. The Interim Hotel Care model provides Live-In carers in the facility who stay in the hotels with the patients. Staffing ratios and the care delivered are excellent. The model provides training on-site and oversees the service with operations teams to ensure compliance throughout.
Contact us
Request more information or call us today (Ask for Donna Provan or Anne-Marie Perry) 01722 343 989
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