Arranging a loved ones hospital discharge can be a daunting task and requires you to work with a number of health and care professionals, to ensure they receive the ongoing support they require for recovery. Also, now more than ever with the current COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals are under great strain to discharge patients who can continue their recovery at home and make beds available for those needing care.
However, after the sobering effect COVID-19 has had within the care home industry, many doctors are cautious about discharging their patients into this setting. Also, with the current lockdown restrictions and new virus strain, some care homes are making the decision to close their doors to new hospital discharge clients.
So is there another alternative which will allow your loved one to recover with the care and support they need, without needing to enter a care home setting?
At The Good Care Group we believe there is, with live-in care.
According to a survey conducted by the Live-in care hub, 97% of us, given the choice, would prefer to carry on living at home. A loved one’s care after a hospital stay is vital for their recovery and a live-in carer can provide you with peace of mind that your loved one is receiving the care requirements detailed in their discharge notes and personalised care plan, to an ‘outstanding’ level.
At The Good Care Group we can help you arrange your hospital discharge, so that the transition between hospital and home is seamless. We can also provide care in as little as 48 hours, if required, with our Rapid Response Team.
The wrap around service
Depending on your loved ones needs after their discharge, we are able to provide live-in care for a minimum of two weeks. After their initial recovery period with our live-in carer, we can happily support your loved one in transferring to one of our trusted hourly care providers. Our aim is to provide your loved one with the necessary care needed for them to become independent again, using a multidisciplinary approach. This wrap around service ensures your loved one receives the best possible care to support their recovery.
If your loved one is currently in hospital and you are looking at your options after their discharge, please call our friendly Client Services Team on 0808 2232 978 to see how we can help bring your loved one home.
The benefits of live-in care after a hospital discharge
Unrivalled falls prevention programmes
In England alone, 30% of people over the age of 65 fall at least once a year and for those 80 and over it is 50%. By comparison, only 7% of our clients aged 65 and over fell at least once, and that was only 6% for those aged 80 or over.
Our clients are seven times less likely to suffer a serious injury as a result of a fall than residents living in a residential care home. This is a result of our quality one-to-one care, which just cannot be achieved in even the very best care home, and our effective personalised falls management programmes.
Working with our in-house Occupational Therapist, we identify clients who are ‘frequent fallers’ and through an intensive and personalised approach to falls management these clients experienced 47% fewer falls from being in our care.
Reducing urinary tract infections (UTI’s)
Through enhanced training and the use of our market-leading digital technology, our professional carers can perform urinalysis tests. This means they can provide accurate and timely information to GP’s, enabling a quick diagnosis and treatment. 82% of our clients were diagnosed in 2019 using urinalysis kits, and through the introduction of testing we were able to reduce emergency interventions involving a 999 call or ambulance call out by a staggering 63%. We have also achieved a 22% reduction in overall UTI related hospital admissions.
Effective pressure sore management
Our high-quality home care provided by dedicated and professional carers has seen a staggering reduction in pressure sores in those we care for when compared to both hospital and care home settings. Our clients are nine times less likely to acquire a pressure sore than they are in a care home and three times less likely than in hospital.
Proactive monitoring of chest infections
Our partnership with an award-winning technology provider, Feebris has seen us reduce hospital admissions for those with respiratory problems by 28%. Our carers use handheld medical devices to detect early signs of illness, such as chest infections enabling timely intervention to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.
Efficient management of medications
Our digital technology is used proactively to effectively support safe administration of medications, which has seen error rates of 3% compared to a 22% error rate in care home settings.
With these outstanding benefits associated with live-in care, there is a real alternative to discharging your loved-one to a care home for their recovery.
