Intermediate Care - Reports
Intermediate Care in Redbridge: A review of patient experience of home and hospital care for people needing short term rehabilitation support - November 2016
Healthwatch Redbridge has been following with interest the changes to intermediate care services across Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge since the consultation entitled ‘Making Intermediate Care Better’ led by Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in 2014.
Over the last two years, we have continued to examine and analyse the details of the proposed changes, providing evidence of any concerns to Redbridge Health Scrutiny Committee (RHSC) on a number of occasions. Following a robust and often fractious period of debate and review, RHSC agreed with our concerns and asked for a review to be conducted by the Secretary of State for Health in January 2016. After the outcome of the review, RHSC requested Healthwatch Redbridge to engage with patients and carers to assess their experience of using the inpatient services.
Healthwatch Redbridge was commissioned by Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Group (RCCG) to facilitate a workshop whereby people would be given the opportunity to find out more about the services (the Community Treatment Team (CTT) and Intensive Rehabilitation Service (IRS) and discuss any concerns they may have.
We were then commissioned by the Redbridge CCG to carry out visits to the Intermediate wards, first at Heron Wood and Gallion Wards in Wanstead and now at the Japonica, Jasmine and Foxglove Wards at King George Hospital.
photo attribution
Intermediate Care in Redbridge:
Intermediate Care in Redbridge Foxglove and Japonica Ward- King George’s Hospital
This report provides an update based on our original review and follows on from the previous recommendations shown in reports provided to RHSC on 21 November 20163 and 20 March 20174 . Feedback for both CTT and IRS services was very positive, with all service users saying they would use the service again if needed in the future; we therefore decided a further review was not required. Following the previous reviews of Foxglove and Japonica wards in KGH, a number of recommendations were provided by HWR to NELFT to improve the service. Our HWR Board also agreed that this visit would be carried out unannounced using our Enter & View powers to find out if any of the recommendations have been followed and if any new areas need to be considered.
Enter & View Report
Heronwood & Galleon Wards - Wanstead Hospital Tuesday 7 April 2015 Foxglove Ward - King George’s Hospital Wednesday 8 April 2015
These Enter & View visits were conducted in response to the reconfiguration of services in regards to the Intermediate Care consultation. The planned closure of rehabilitation wards at Wanstead Hospital and the relocation to King George’s Hospital with a reduction in bed capacity has raised a number of concerns with local people and carers. Further concerns were also raised by patients who told us they had difficulties accessing inpatient services and discharge assessments.
Other issues were raised directly with HWR by some NHS staff who felt they had been given little opportunity to input into the proposals. They asked that their details remain confidential at this stage as they told us they felt unsure of how their views would be taken by their employers. We have respected their position on this but would hope to support both staff and providers to identify the concerns raised and address them in a positive way.
Care Closer to Home - Integrated Care in Redbridge
In December 2013 Healthwatch Redbridge released a report regarding Integrated Care in Redbridge which suggested the following follow ups need to be looked at :
- Ensure the services are publicised and promoted appropriately
- Ensure adequate levels of staffing are maintained as the service becomes more popular
- Ensure continuity of care for users
- Users must not be left without appropriate support at the end of the service
- Review the pilot and provide updates to interested organisations and individuals A consultation document was produced before the extension regarding the proposed changes to intermediate care by the Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge Clinical Commissions Groups Trials of the proposed changes were implicated by the CCG to make sure that the health and social care system is ‘future proof’ and that there is a system that will care better for people now and can also care for more people in years to come.
‘Care Closer to Home’ Integrated Care Meeting 3 December 2013
After listening to a brief presentation on the proposed changes presented by Carol White, Director of Adult Services at NELFT; attendees were invited to comment on the following questions:
- What do you think of the changes?
- Do people want to get home quicker with the right support in place?
- Do the new services sound like the right ones?
- Are there any other suggestions? Summaries of those discussions are detailed on the following pages.
