Who are we?

We want to help you recover faster, so you can leave hospital sooner and return to where you normally live, carrying on with your normal daily routine.

If you are really sick, hospital is the place you really need to be, but once you are medically stable, you can recover much faster somewhere else.

This information explains the different ways in which we can support you to do just that. If you have any questions, please speak to the person caring for you.

I am in a main hospital, but am not able to return to where I live yet. What help is there?

There are a number of options, depending on your needs. These include:

• community hospitals for people recovering from illness and who need professional support
• Domiciliary Plus: Supporting you as part of your transfer of care from a main hospital. Provides short-term assistance in the community, such as meal hygiene and preparation
• being able to acquire care home beds at short notice, which is suitable for you if you are not yet fit enough to go home but are fit enough to be transferred somewhere else from a main hospital.

What support is there when I go home?

You may be eligible for a number of things, including:

• rapid response nurses and therapists, who not only support you to avoid going into hospital, but who are also on hand to help you when you return home. They provide rapid assessment and care planning to make sure you have everything in place for nursing and therapy needs. Coxheath and Tonbridge Urgent Care Services Rapid Response have now combined at Hermitage Lane
• community nurses provide care, such as dressing wounds and catheter care
• support from us to access specialist nurses, including respiratory, cardiac and falls teams, as well as support for stroke rehabilitation
• mental health support. The Mental Health Liaison Service works with main hospital and us to support you
• access to social services. As part of our Rapid Transfer Service, Kent County Council provides expertise in assessment and family liaison, with forward planning for your care using direct, private and voluntary organisations.

Is there anything else, which may be useful for me?

Yes. We have a Frailty Team, which is led by doctors who specialise in the care of older people and includes advanced nurse practitioners. Our team works with main hospitals to reduce the number of people being unnecessarily taken into hospital. The team develops advanced care plans for frail older people in the community to enhance quality of life.

We also have an Older People’s Nurse Specialist Team, which supports care homes and can acquire beds very quickly, when necessary. The team reviews care for patients and helps to manage length of stay and quality and standards for people.