The new countywide Older Adult Home Treatment Team started operating from October 2018.
The team operates 7 days per week within our continuous community and inpatient care pathway. The team provides an alternative to hospital for older adults who have severe and sudden mental health needs.
The team will supplement the existing input from the community team in order to provide short term intense help and support. The team will also support more timely and appropriate discharge from hospital back to the community.
Our aims
Our team will help you manage and resolve this stage of your illness through assessment and treatment in your home as an alternative to hospital admission.
We also support people being discharged from psychiatric hospital, helping you to continue your recovery at home.
Early discharge
If you need to be admitted to hospital, our aim will be to help you return home as soon as possible. Long stay hospital admissions can make it harder to return to everyday life at home.
Within a few days of admission, the ward staff will start to talk to you and your family about intensive home treatment enabling early discharge from hospital where possible.
What can you expect
While you are under our care we will involve you in all aspects of your care planning. We will use outcome measures with you and your carer to monitor how well we are doing and support discharge planning. You can receive:
- Close monitoring of your mental health
- Support, education and advice for you and your family/carer
- Help with managing your medication management
- Help with personal care if this has been impacted on by your mental health
- Assessment of activities of daily living
- Support with effective coping strategies
- If you have a care team, we will work closely with them and you to make sure you have the best possible care
- If you are not currently receiving Trust services but require longer term support, we will refer you to the most appropriate service to meet your needs.
Who does the Home Treatment Team comprise of?
Our team comprises of:
- Administrative support staff
- Community psychiatric nurses including non-medical prescribers
- Consultant psychiatrists
- Health care support workers
- Access and direct referral to:
- Older Adult Community Mental Health Teams
- Occupational therapists
- Older adult psychology
- Social workers
- Neighbourhood Teams
- Older adults inpatient wards
- Psychiatric Clinical Decisions Unit (PCDU)
- Crisis Houses
Hours of operation
Operating hours:
8am to 8pm Monday to Friday
10am to 6pm weekends and public holidays
There is no one in the team outside of these hours to respond to calls. Your care plan will identify with you what you should do if you need support outside working hours
