Temporary Care Home Beds for Hospital Discharge

The Temporary Care Home Beds for Hospital Discharge service is an integrated person-centred approach to the safe and timely transfer of medically optimised patients from an acute hospital to a community setting. This is to enable the assessment of their long-term health and social care needs or continued recovery before being able to go home.

The service is aimed at people who no longer have a reason to reside in hospital and therefore do not require an acute hospital bed, but who still require ongoing care for a period of assessment or recovery.

As part of a whole system approach the service will offer recovery, and assessment within a care home setting.

The Temporary Care Home Beds for Hospital Discharge service is aimed primarily at older people as the single biggest group of hospital bed users nationally. With a predicted growth in the over 65 age group these pressures are likely to increase. This specification outlines a temporary measure to alleviate pressures for this group across the wider health and social care system which may be further exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Care will be delivered to service users that have been identified by the commissioner (or organisation acting on behalf of the commissioner) as requiring up to 4 weeks rest or recuperation (with or without therapy needs) for their long term needs to be assessed which is likely to be to return home, with or without a package of care