We established the Integrated Care Homes Service to support the health needs of the care home population in the Nottingham City area.
We work in partnership with GPs to identify patients who are at risk of hospital admission or readmission and provide the care and support they and their families need. We also assist in the identification and treatment of common mental health problems.
The service is made up of several specialised teams. These include:
General Nursing – We provide general nursing interventions to residents within residential care homes. This may include wound care, insulin administration or end of life care. This service is not available in nursing homes, which have their own nursing staff available.
Dementia Outreach Team (DOT) – We provide specialist dementia mental health support to residents within care homes who have severe dementia which presents as challenging and complex behaviour. The team is made up of Registered Mental Health Nurses, specialist dementia OT’s and physiotherapy support.
Physical Therapy – We provide Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy support for residents within residential homes. This service is offered based on referral.
Specialist Nurse Practitioners – We provide additional support for patients in residential and care homes when the need for this is identified. We complete a full assessment and develop a management plan to make sure they receive the care they need. The team have the support of a consultant geriatrician and liaise with GPs in order to set up and carry out the plan. In order to access this service patients must be a new admission for long term care into the home and need to be referred within six weeks of admission.
Referrals can be made for patients who meet the service criteria by patients, carers or clinicians by contacting Nottingham Health and Care Point on 0300 131 0300 option 4 or using our online referral form.