Northern Care Alliance to trial moving dementia patients to specialised hubs to ease NHS pressure

The Northern Care Alliance – which runs Rochdale Infirmary, Royal Oldham, Fairfield and Salford Royal hospitals – is to trial moving dementia patients stuck in hospital into specialised hubs under new plans to free up beds and ease the pressure on the NHS.

The Northern Care Alliance is one of six national discharge frontrunners appointed by the government to trial solutions to free up beds in NHS hospitals, whilst still providing continuity of care.

It has suggested the idea of specialised dementia hubs to help support people with dementia who have a greater chance of readmission.

Sarah-Jane Marsh, National Director of Urgent and Emergency Care, said: “There is no doubt the NHS is under pressure with latest weekly data showing flu cases in hospital increased by almost half putting additional strain on already busy wards and departments.

“We want to ensure all patients ready to leave hospital do so quickly and safely, and NHS staff are working closely with local authority colleagues to help get more patients out of hospital when they are medically fit to do so.

“We hope the frontrunner programme will offer new solutions for local systems to help patients access the services they need and help to free up bed space in NHS hospitals.”

The frontrunner programme is part of the winter care measures announced this week by Health Secretary Steve Barclay.

The package also includes a hospital discharge fund with the government making £200 million of additional funding available, on top of the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund announced in the autumn statement.

The latest fund will be used by local NHS areas to buy thousands of extra beds in care placements to allow people to be discharged safely from hospitals into the community where they will receive the care they need to recover before returning to their homes.

There are currently around 13,000 people occupying hospital beds in England who are fit to be discharged, but need further care before returning home.

The move is expected to free up hospital beds so people can be admitted more quickly from A&E to wards, reduce pressure on emergency departments and speed up ambulance handovers.

A further £50 million in capital funding is also being made available to expand hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs. Ambulance queues in some areas are made worse due to a lack of physical space - the new money will create new ambulance hubs where vehicles can manoeuvre more easily to avoid delays handing over patients.

The funding boost will also expand discharge lounges in NHS trusts - areas where patients can be moved out of acute beds while they wait to be discharged, freeing up beds in the meantime.

Owen Williams, chief executive of Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust said: “This is great news for the populations we serve, and for our health and social care staff who are working hard to provide the best care they can. Being one of the frontrunners allows us to test some new ways of working which our staff have told us will deliver better patient care. As part of this work, we can try out these innovations and where successful we can share them with other health and social care systems.”

Steve Rumbelow, place lead for the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Integrated Care Partnership, said: “Our health and social care teams in Rochdale have been at the forefront of integration, we are now working with our neighbours in Bury, Oldham and Salford to share good practice and - most importantly - provide joined-up care regardless of where people are admitted to hospital and where they live.”