Trusted Assessor

Care home providers consistently reported that there was a lack of trust in relation to the information provided by hospitals about the health and care needs of their residents. They found that often residents returned from hospital with very different needs compared to those prior to admission. This placed the person and care home at risk as they were not prepared, and in some circumstances, could not meet the needs of individuals. Due to this, many care homes insisted on visiting the resident in hospital before they accepted them back into their care. This caused a delay in the person leaving hospital, putting them at increased risk of acquiring infection, continued disorientation and the emotional impact of not needing to be in hospital and wanting to return home. It also resulted in a delay in discharge and impacted bed availability in acute and community hospital settings.

In response to this, a trusted assessor (1 FTE) was appointed through EMCare (local umbrella care provider body) to support this initiative in 2019. DMT agreed the service expansion to include a further FTE TA. This was arranged via a grant agreement (iBCF), however no formal procurement to support this was undertaken.

Exception request for current financial year, pending consideration of formal procurement should continuation of service beyond current year be expected.