Brighton & Hove community teams scale up to prepare for winter

In preparation for winter, Brighton & Hove based community short-term service has increased capacity and secured additional nursing home beds.

This will enable the team to support more patients every day, helping to relieve pressure on A&E services.

The community short-term service team is a collaboration between Sussex Community NHS Trust, Brighton & Hove City Council, IC24 Ltd, Age UK Brighton & Hove and Victoria Nursing Homes.

It is formed of roving GPs, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, night sitting service and support staff, providing rapid assessment for patients at home, with the aim of avoiding hospital admission.

Through flexible and reactive resourcing, teams provide extra support seven days a week.

In addition, four extra nursing home beds have been made available over the winter period.

This extra capacity will mean the teams can provide care for the increased number of people who need support over winter.

Louise Mayer, head of adult services Brighton & Hove, Sussex Community NHS Trust, said: “The cold weather brings with it a host of medical issues, such as fractures, chest infections and viruses that can affect our most vulnerable and elderly patients.

“Our collective aim is to care for our patients at home to prevent inappropriate hospital admissions. This initiative will help us reach and treat more patients in need.

“Without this support many patients would visit A&E. Instead GPs can refer their patients to our community short-term services and we will provide rapid crisis support for up to 72 hours as required. We also visit patients in care and nursing homes.”

Karin Divall, head of adult social care, Brighton & Hove City Council, said: “We can meet the needs of our patients quickly because we have a team of medical and social care staff with lots of different skills.

“Instead of multiple visits from different professionals, we work as one team and make sure our patients receive the care best most suited to their needs.”

The community short-term service is formed of a range of services including the SCT community rapid response service, intravenous (IV) community therapy service, Crisis Support from Age UK, bed based intermediate care services from Brighton & Hove City Council and Victoria Nursing Homes and home based intermediate care from Brighton & Hove City Council.