NHS bosses are to start paying the relatives of people who stuck stuck in hospital money to help with the costs of looking after them at home.
The new grant scheme is a pilot one that has only previously been tried in Cornwall, and could see people with, mainly elderly, relatives be encouraged financially to help their loved ones return home from a hospital stay - because hospitals in Bristol currently have scores of people who are medically fit to be discharged, but who don’t have the support at home to enable them to leave hospital.
The grant scheme was announced by Healthier Together, the umbrella NHS organisation which includes both NHS hospital trusts in Bristol and Weston, GP surgeries and health centres in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Read more: Families face £70 a month cost to visit elderly relatives in care homes
In an open letter to the people in those three areas, the Healthier Together executives said that they needed everyone to continue to pull together to help the NHS as covid restrictions end.
The open letter listed a number of new initiatives being brought in to help with the burden on the NHS, as well as a list of things people could do to help take the pressure off the still under-pressure NHS services.
Outlining the new grant scheme, Healthier Together said it could be up to £1,200, and was for people to help their loved ones return home. “The grant can be used to support the costs of shopping, household tasks, meal preparation, cleaning or transport,” they said. “It is available to individuals, family members, friends or other advocates of an individual returning from hospital,” they added.
Read more: Woman STILL in hospital a month after being 'discharge ready'
The issue of ‘delayed discharge’ - what used to be called ‘bed-blocking’ has exacerbated the pressures on hospitals in Bristol during this winter wave of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
At the height of the surge in cases, health chiefs in north Bristol said patients who could medically leave but had no care plan in place were as much of an issue in terms of pressures on hospital bed capacity as Covid-19 patients.
Bristol Live highlighted one case of a woman from Knowle, Gwyneth Lucas, who went into hospital following a minor injury a week before Christmas, was declared medically fit to return home a few days later, but had an agreed care package withdrawn from her home care provider, just minutes before she was due to leave.
Mrs Lucas then spent months in the BRI, celebrated her 100th birthday there, but has only just been discharged to a care home, more than two months later.
NHS bosses said the pilot grant scheme aims to help improve ‘flow’ through local hospitals and free up beds for those who are medically unwell, by supporting families with minor costs associated with bringing a loved one home following their discharge.
Peter Brindle, Medical Director at NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “We’re launching this pilot as the local health and care system remains in its highest state of alert. We need to do everything we can to ensure that hospital beds are available to those that need hospital care the most. While the grant will not enable regulated care for our more vulnerable people, it will provide extra resources to a large proportion of people who are medically well and ready to leave hospital, but who might just need short-term help so they can get back on their feet."
Grants to help people who are medically ready to leave hospital have previously been used in the Cornwall area during periods of intense pressure on NHS services. "They have been effective at helping people to return and recover in their own home, and freeing up hospital beds for people that need them," said a CCG spokesperson.
The pilot will be run by Sirona Care and Health. Their business and service delivery manager Tracey Roberts said the patients it applies to will be people who are medically fit to be discharged, but need extra help that is stopping that from happening.
“People who have been assessed as having no clinical reason to remain in hospital but who may need some extra help to allow them to be discharged, can receive support to manage an application for funding of between £200 and £1200," she said.
“The Partner2Care service will work with hospital discharge and community teams who refer the individual. We will then work with the individual, their families or carers to discuss requests and how this can support an early discharge from hospital, or prevent a re-admission. We will arrange the funding and they will receive follow-up calls to check on their well-being," she added.
But it can't be used to pay for professional, or 'regulated' care services. "The grants cannot be used for regulated care, for example, personal care by any kind of provider irrespective of CQC registration," a spokesperson for the CCG said. "If regulated care is available, the CCG will pay for this directly provided there is a contract with the registered provider. In some instances, the council will pay for CQC regulated services."
Health chiefs have also confirmed that a ‘digital service’ to monitor covid patients at home, rather than in a hospital bed, is being expanded.
Read more: Where you can get lateral flow tests in Bristol this week before having to pay
“The ‘pulse oximetry service’ means people with severe Covid-19 but who are recovering, can be sent home or remain at home, with an array of monitoring equipment that sends data on their condition to medical staff in hospital, who can quickly get them to come in to hospital for more intensive treatment if their condition worsens.
So far, more than 900 people in the area have been treated for Covid-19 in this way, and health chiefs have said they are welcoming inquiries from people who are suffering from Covid-19 right now, or their loved ones, to see if it might help them.
“Although all services remain extremely busy, we have thankfully now passed the peak of the Omicron wave,” said the Healthier Together executives’ letter. “As a result, we are standing down the temporary ‘Nightingale surge facility’ that was set up in the grounds of Bristol’s Southmead hospital earlier this year,” they confirmed.
Read more: Bristol's Covid Nightingale 'surge hub' to be dismantled after treating no patients
“As we work hard to catch-up on operations and appointments delayed during the pandemic, it’s vital that we keep hospitals, care homes, GP surgeries and other healthcare settings as safe as possible.
“For this reason, we will still ask you to wear face coverings, regularly wash your hands, and – where possible – socially distance when on health and care premises. This will help keep our settings free of infection and protect the most vulnerable from serious illness.
“We have introduced a number of new initiatives in response to both the pandemic and the recent high pressure on our services,” they added.
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