Leicester City Council Adult Social Care
In partnership with colleagues from NHS Leicester City, Leicester City Council developed a scheme to provide support for people that would:
· reduce dependency after hospital discharge
· provide outcome-targeted care
· use therapy intervention to help people regain lost skills.
The Reablement Service incorporates occupational and physiotherapy into its social-care delivery and trains its frontline staff to help restore people’s independence. The team also includes an Assistive Technology Worker and a Handy Person who provide innovative solutions and practical assistance to help a person to live independently.
Up to half the people, who join the six-week scheme after being discharged from hospital, fully regain their independence and require no further care input.
We specifically target a person’s lost skills and take measured steps to achieve particular outcomes. Under previous systems, people’s needs may have been reduced over time, but not to the degree that we have achieved.
The results are promising: People who have lost skills, relearned them, making small steps on the way to regaining dignity and independence. On top of the 50% who regained full independence, a further 30%, although needing continuing assistance in the longer term, required reduced levels of assistance once completing the scheme.
We’ve helped 80% of our service users to regain and retain their independence. This means a higher quality of life for the majority of people, who continue to live in their own homes enjoying higher levels of independence.
This happily also places less strain on the public purse than long-term care packages. The results are better, and they cost less too! Work with the Care Services Efficiency Delivery Programme has been valuable in confirming that the approach is effective and that the financial assumptions are sound.
Contact Details: Jagjit Singh Bains, Head of Service (Intermediate Care) on 0116 2211500 or jagjit.singh-bains@leicester.gov.uk
