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Community NHS supportive care at home
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About the service
The Community NHS Supportive Care at Home Team are part of the Specialist Community Palliative Care Service within the Trust. The service provides practical, emotional and physical support to patients and carers who are in receipt of or meet continuing health care FastTrack funding criteria. FastTrack funding recognises a patient has a rapidly deteriorating health condition and is applied for via the Continuing Health Care (CHC team) on 01226 433634.
The Community NHS Supportive Care at Home Service will provide support to patients, their carers/families during the night. The service operates 7 days per week, it aims to provide 1-2 nights support visits per week to support patients and their carers/families to remain in their own home.
- Provision of a staff member who can stay with the patient overnight to allow the family/carer to get some rest
- Provision of a qualified nurse to stay with the patient to provide pain/symptom management
Why would someone choose the service?
We know how difficult it can be caring for someone who has a rapidly deteriorating health condition and is approaching the last week / short days of life.
- When a person is approaching the last days of their life, the Community NHS Supportive Care at Home Service aims to support them and their family in their preferred place of care, enabling the person to die at home in their own familiar surroundings
- To provide a supportive presence at home, with care provided by appropriately trained staff
- To provide care for the patient overnight, enabling the family/carer to get some rest while a staff member stays with the patient
- Provision of a qualified nurse to stay with the patient to provide pain/symptom management
- To provide a quick response when a person is in the last few days of their life, offering care that is tailor-made to the person’s needs
- To provide additional care and support, if required, as the patient is approaching the last few weeks or days of life
Staff you may meet
- Administrative staff provide essential support to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. This can be in a variety of different settings, with administrators working as a receptionist in a clinic or a clerk on a ward. They may also be working closely with a consultant as a medical secretary.
- Registered nurses use evidence based knowledge, and their professional and clinical judgement to assess, plan, implement and evaluate high quality person centred care. The work of registered nurses consists of many specialised and complex interventions to ensure people and their families can improve, maintain or recover health, or experience a dignified death.
Why a professional should choose the service
- The service provides both qualified and unqualified staff that have received training in caring for individuals with life-limiting illnesses who require additional support when approaching their end of life
- Due to the nature of our service, care is provided in consultation with the patient, if they are able, and their family.
- The service is provided 7 days a week 24 hours a day, this includes weekends and bank holidays.
- The service works closely with colleagues in health and social care both in hospital and community settings
Support offered
Following referral to the service the patient / carer will be contacted by the service coordinator once they have triaged the referral.
They will contact them to discuss care needs:
- Patients may be in hospital or hospice and express a wish to go home
- Patient may be at home and require additional care and support to enable them to remain at home for their end of life care
- The service aims to provide one to two nights of support per week
- The service maintains ongoing liaison with the patient, carer, family, and health and social care colleagues to ensure that care is regularly reviewed and assessed
Examples of care provided include:
- Overnight support visits
Outcomes
- To provide high quality individualised care
- To support the person to die at home if that is their preferred place of care
- Support the person and their family by providing a supportive presence at home when the end of life is near
- Provide a qualified nurse to assess/provide pain or symptom management
Referrals accepted from:
Continuing healthcare, GPs, Hospice staff, Hospital staff, Macmillan nurses, Neighbourhood nursing service, Specialist nurses, Urgent community response team
Referral criteria:
- Patients must live within the Barnsley borough and be under the care of the Barnsley Neighbourhood Nursing Service or other community services
- The service is available to patients registered with a Barnsley GP
- The patient must have Continuing Healthcare Fast Track funding in place, or an application for funding must be in progress, due to a rapidly deteriorating condition from which they are not expected to recover
- The patient must consent to the referral. If they are unable to provide consent, a best interests discussion with their family/carers must have taken place