Green light for new Intermediate Care Unit at North Manchester General Hospital

Computer generated design of the new Intermediate Care Unit at North Manchester General Hospital

Planning permission for a new purpose-built 24 bed community Intermediate Care Unit situated in the grounds at North Manchester General Hospital, which will help ease bed blocking and support elderly patients being discharged from hospital, has been approved.

The new unit will become part of the Trust’s Community Assessment and Support Service (CASS), a new integrated service delivery model that aims to avoid admissions, reduce length of stay and improve patient and carer experiences by providing better access to the right intervention, at the right time, delivered by the right health or social care worker.

Since November 2014 the Pennine Acute Trust, which manages North Manchester General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, The Royal Oldham Hospital and Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, has been providing nine temporary intermediate care beds at North Manchester General Hospital on ward J5 in the main hospital building. These are in addition to 15 beds currently provided in the local community at Henesy House, a residential home in Collyhurst, Manchester. This new Intermediate Care Unit will replace all of these beds.

The majority of patients who access intermediate care services are over 75 years of age and the new unit will provide an enhanced service for community patients who require a period of rehabilitation. The new unit will also support patients who do not require, or no longer need, specialist acute hospital care and treatment, but who do still need support within a community setting.

Intermediate care is a service that is designed to rehabilitate people with input from a team of dedicated professionals. That team could include any combination of nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, GPs, assistant practitioners, health care assistants, pharmacists, speech and language services, podiatrists and social care workers.

Professor Matt Makin, Medical Director at The Pennine Acute Trust, said: “This new unit will offer patients support in the transition period between illness and recovery where they will have access to a superb team of health and social care professionals. Our unit will be low-rise in design and  have a welcoming homely feel for patients with a sunken communal garden and a mock apartment to help patients adjust to home life again.”