Intermediate care

This week saw the launch of the Intermediate care scheme, a joint scheme funded by the South Leicestershire PCT and Leicestershire County Council, which will no doubt prove to be a fantastic way of improving the care that is provided to the community in South Leicestershire.

Although the service has been up and running since April, the official launch occurred on Friday 2^nd July. Julie Woods, Chief executive of South Leicestershire PCT, gave a speech outlining the benefits it will bring to patients of the locality. Many of those present are involved in caring for patients directly and indirectly and we all felt very excited by the prospect of having an alternative way of caring for patients than just sending them off to one of the big hospitals in Leicester.

For patients this will mean that rather than being admitted to hospital they can, if they wish, be looked after at home. Those patients who are already in the big hospitals like the Leicester Royal Infirmary can come home early knowing that they will receive nursing care and support in their own home.

The intermediate care team consists of a Manager, Nurses, Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist and Healthcare assistants with the patient’s own GP providing medical support. Feilding Palmer Hospital, Lutterworth will be its base.

General Practitioners, district nurses and social workers that know the patients will make referrals.

The response time from referral to the patient being contacted is only two hours. In many cases this will prove shorter than the wait patients have in getting into one of the Leicester hospitals.

If the patient becomes more unwell at home he or she can still be admitted to one of the bigger hospitals or to Feilding Palmer Hospital.

As the patient’s condition improves the amount of input will be gradually reduced but the long term needs of the patient will be assessed and support put into place in the form of equipment, visits from district nurses, community health workers and so on.