HEALTH and social care services in Dorset will receive a near £3million cash injection to move medically fit people out of hospital and back into the community.
NHS Dorset will work with its partners within the county’s hospital trusts, ambulance service and council bodies to use the £2.8million received from government as part of an effort to ease pressures on the NHS nationwide.
As reported, the government is to make available up to £200 million of additional funding to immediately buy short-term care placements to allow people to be discharged safely from hospitals into the community.
It is hoped the move will free up hospital beds so people can be admitted more quickly from A&E to wards, reducing pressure on emergency departments and speeding up ambulance handovers.
NHS Dorset’s chief operating officer, Dean Spencer said: “We are extremely pleased to be receiving funding of £2.8m, which will really benefit the people of Dorset.
“Working with partners across NHS services, local authority social care and the community and voluntary sector, we are looking at a range of options to help get people discharged from hospital as quickly as possible.
“We would ask the public if you have a friend or relative in hospital that is ready to be discharged that you arrange to pick them up and get them home as soon as you can.
“Collectively we are investing in out of hospital care by commissioning and funding a number of additional beds in nursing and residential homes with wraparound services.”
In December, University Hospitals Dorset’s chief operating officer Mark Mould told the Echo: “We, along with the wider health and social care system, have now agreed significant investment in out of hospital care. We’ve agreed to commission and fund a significant number of additional beds in nursing and residential homes with wraparound services.
“Additional capacity with BCP Council and Dorset Council means we might be in a position where we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.”
In December, 25 per cent of patients in a ward bed at Bournemouth and Poole hospitals were ready for discharge but unable to leave.
Shortly following this, work between the health bodies helped 60 more patients be discharged from UHD hospitals.
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