LibDem councillor welcomes ‘Hospital at Home’ to North East Fife

The extension of the ‘Hospital at Home’ service to NE Fife has been welcomed by a Liberal Democrat councillor.

Group Leader Cllr Tim Brett, a former member of NHS Fife Health Board, has warmly approved the progress of the scheme, saying ‘According to the evidence, the outcomes of the Hospital at Home service are positive and is appreciated and valued by both patients and their families.’

He observed, that at this stage patients being discharged from Ninewells or Perth Royal infirmary are unable to access the early supported discharge element of the service, though it is hoped that the obstacles to this will be resolved in the next few months. ‘However,’ he went on, ‘I am conscious of the pressures on senior medical staff in delivering this new service, and that adequate staffing is required before it can be further developed.’

NOTE :   Details from NHS Fife :

 Information on ICASS, and H@H.

Thanks for your email on the ICASS services in NE Fife. The information below covers the general integrated community assessment and support service, and the more recent extension of this team to incorporate  hospital @ home. As a new development in care H@H is led by consultant geriatricians, and deployed as a virtual team across NHS Fife, irrespective of the CHP boundaries.

All of the ICASS services (including the integrated community teams, hospital inpatient care, and H@H) are accessed in GNEF through the Single Point of Access which coordinates referrals for assessment and care from hospital practitioners and all GP practices. Information on various options in care are discussed and agreed on an individual basis with the patients GP or hospital practitioner. We have an information leaflet available, but this is normally utilised as part of a consultation.

 Activity Information:

 ·         On average we receive 700 referrals a month through SPOA for the community teams assessment service, referrals are assessed accordingly by the ICASS team and a treatment plan is established in line with the individuals needs.

 ·         For H@H specifically – we have received 223 admissions in GNEF to date. The service has been operational in GNEF for 42 weeks, although the beginning of this period would have been subject to a series of tests and phased roll out. As a Fifewide service from implementation to May 2014 there have been over 1,500 admissions and discharges to the service with average length of input at 8.9 days.  

 ·         ICASS is available to all GP practices in GNEF. Hospital at Home in GNEF has rolled out to all GP practices for Early Supported Discharge from VHK. 

The roll out to General Practice teams for  Prevention of Admissions is nearing completion, with Newburgh and Newport scheduled shortly. The availability of medical capacity is pivotal to the safe conclusion of the roll out, and there have been challenges in this respect. We are now however in the position to be taking the first ‘test cases’ from Newport, which will be agreed over the next few weeks with the Consultant and GPs concerned.