Dementia hospital at home pilot
We’ve been engaging about how to improve older people’s mental health and dementia services since 2017 and making changes to improve the experience for patients and their carers accessing our services - helping people to live well in their communities.
Impact of the pandemic
In April 2020, the pandemic was having a big impact on the staff we had available across our hospital wards. We had to take the difficult decision to temporarily close Manthorpe ward in Grantham and redeploy this team to support other older people’s wards in Lincoln and our community teams.
This temporary closure gave us the opportunity to try a different approach and take steps to provide the same level of care as we do in our mental health pathway. We have had really positive results and feedback about this new way of working.
What has been happening?
This new hospital at home approach was having such a positive impact that once the pandemic was having a less substantial impact on our wards, we decided we wanted to evaluate the full potential of dementia home treatment further.
We therefore took the decision last year to extend the pilot of our Dementia Home Treatment approach for a further 12 months, expand the help and support the team could offer and do more engagement and evaluation on its impact.
As part of this we have continued to keep the Manthorpe ward in Grantham temporarily closed, to be able to use the resources and staff allocated, to test this new way of working.
We are now coming to the end of this additional 12 month pilot and want to understand what impact this service is having and how we might move forward to deliver a service that meets people’s needs in the future.
We’d love to hear from anyone using/or has used our dementia services on how you have felt this pilot has gone and anything more we could do to support people living with dementia in the county.
We have continued to engage our patients, their carers and families, staff and organisations that support people with dementia throughout this pilot and this next phase of engagement will help us to develop next steps.
Any future options will be fully consulted on with our local community.
How to be involved
We have a range of events people can come and talk to us at, or you can share your views on our short survey below.
You can also email us at lpft.involvement@nhs.net if you would like more information.
Complete our survey by using this link
Survey will be available until 30 September 2024
What is dementia home treatment?
Whilst Manthorpe ward has been temporarily closed, we have been piloting a new hospital at home approach to prevent people with dementia, who’s needs might be escalating, from having to go into hospital. The countywide team help by:
- Caring for people at home
- Offering short-term intensive support
- Bringing different professions together to help
- Improving patient and carer experience
- Avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions
- Educating and supporting carers
They provide up to six weeks of intensive support in people’s homes, or care home, which includes a thorough assessment, safety planning, input from a range of different professionals and future care planning to prevent needs escalating in the future
What has been the impact?
With the introduction of dementia home treatment during the manthorpe ward temporary closure, we have been able to offer more support, to more people, as well as increasing the input we provide into local care homes. We are able to discharge people from hospital faster and are offering better access to care at home, improving clinical outcomes and improving patient experience.
Hospital admissions are now only for those with very complex needs, that can't be supported in the community.
- Langworth Ward has maintained an average occupancy of 69%
- No one has had to travel out of Lincolnshire to receive care
- Only 12% of patients seen by the Dementia Home Treatment Team then require hospital admission
- People have been cared for by the Dementia Home Treatment Team or admitted to Langworth ward when they’ve needed hospital care
- 288 dementia related admissions to Langworth ward - 16 from the Grantham area
What our service users and carers have told us
“The Dementia Home Treatment Team fully understand what I as a carer have to face on a day to day basis. The team not only cared for my husband but made sure that I was kept fully informed, and they showed genuine concern for my own welfare.” Carer
“After a visit to A&E we were put in touch with dementia home treatment team. They now visit us everyday and I don’t know where we would be without their support. My husband would be sitting in a ward getting progressively worse.” Carer
Download a printable version of this information by using this link
Complete our online survey about the hospital at home pilot
For more information about any of our engagement events or anything about this pilot please contact lpft.involvement@nhs.net
or call 01529 222245 or 07773 206341
