Specialist care easing hospital discharge pressure

Reablement services are aimed at speeding up patient discharges from hospitals

Closer working between a care provider and NHS Dorset has helped ease the pressure of patients discharged from hospital, a council meeting has heard.

Care Dorset said its 20 reablement beds had saved almost 3,000 hospital bed days.

The reablement places see patients taught new methods of doing things, such as cooking, before going home or to another care setting.

Managing director Chris Best said it was "frustrating" the facilities were not used more.

In December 2022, Care Dorset - the wholly owned adult care arm of Dorset Council - opened an extra 20 beds aimed at ensuring patients were free to leave hospitals as early as possible through the reablement service.

It also sped up its delivery of community reablement - providing help and support to people in their homes

Mr Best told councillors that although the situation was improving there needed to be a better understanding of how reablement beds could be used to speed up the discharge of medically-fit patients from hospital.

"Many people in the health care system still don't seem to understand what reablement is… we do still have a job to do in explaining what is there and how it works," he said.

One hundred and forty seven people have been supported by Care Dorset's reablement services.

Mr Best said that by having colleagues working within local hospitals and sitting in on meetings at the point where discharges were being discussed, there had already been an improvement in the take-up of reablement spaces.

Councillors were told that the average stay in a reablement setting was six weeks during which time those using the service would be re-introduced to cooking and personal care, possibly being taught new methods of doing things, before going home or to another care setting.

For some, that might mean having care put in place at their home for a further period of time, with the aim of reducing it when possible.