Stay-home aim for dementia patients

A new healthcare service for dementia patients and their carers will be launched in Newark and Sherwood in the new year.

The service, provided by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, will support patients in their own homes and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.

It is estimated that 130 patients and their carers a year will be helped by the service, which has been commissioned in response to concerns raised in the Newark Healthcare Review.

People were unhappy about having to travel to visit loved ones in hospitals outside the area and wanted more support for carers.

The service will be paid for with money reinvested following the closure of Newark Hospital’s Friary ward, which treated older people with mental health problems.

The £488,000 a year it cost to run the ward will also pay for extra staff at Ashfield Community Hospital, intermediate care beds at Newark area care homes, and specialist mental health advisers on general medical wards at Newark Hospital.

A mental health intermediate care team, based at Byron House, Newark Hospital, will run the new service seven days a week.

The 13-strong team includes a community psychiatric nurse, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, social worker and community support workers.

It will mirror a successful service that has been running in Rushcliffe since November 2008.

A member of the Rushcliffe team, Mrs Jacquie Hinds, will lead the Newark team.

She said: “People have a real opportunity to live in their own homes as long as possible.

“If we can support people at home it will be much better for them and their carers.”

Mrs Hinds said the confusion experienced by dementia patients increased after being admitted to hospital.

If hospital admission is necessary, the team will aim to get patients back home as soon as possible.

Dementia patients in the Newark area are treated at Ashfield Community Hospital’s 20-bed Shelley ward since the closure of Friary ward.

The new service will provide short-term beds in care homes in the area for those who do not need full hospital treatment but cannot be cared for at home due to a particular ailment.

Anyone will be able to refer patients to the service, including carers, and the team aims to respond quickly to cases.

The team will intervene at times of crisis, such as a carer becoming ill, when they will ensure the patient continues to be cared for without having to leave their home.

The team will also look at people’s longer-term needs to make sure they are supported in the future.

A group, including local carers, has been set up to oversee the start of the new service and anticipate any problems.

Friary ward closed a year ago after a fall in demand for the service.

The Orchard Unit, a mental health day service attached to the ward, remained open until it moved to Byron House last month.

The unit operates two days a week at Byron House and has two outreach days at Coddington and Hockerton.

A carers group that met once a month at Byron House has been moved to Balderton Resource Centre.