Enhanced Health in Care Homes

People living in care homes have the right to the same level of health care and support as those living in their own home.  Many people living in care homes have significant and complex health and social care needs that require additional support beyond that delivered by care home staff.

The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to address health inequalities to improve support for people living and working care homes.  Enhanced Health in Care Homes promotes multidisciplinary working and considers some of the wider issues of health such as nutrition, hydration, and falls.  It is designed to enable organisations to work together to deliver seamless care supporting better outcomes.  This model of care moves away from the traditional reactive model towards proactive care centred around the needs of the individual, their families and care home staff.

We can only achieve this by working collaboratively across health, social care, mental health, care homes and voluntary services.  Working in this way will enable us to support delivery of co-ordinated enhanced wraparound care, reablement and rehabilitation for people living in care homes.  By using resources effectively, we can deliver better support and care for people in their home enabling them to remain safe, well and maintain their independence for longer.

To support delivery the Sheffield Ageing Well Programme has created a dedicated project team to support implementation of the framework.  The team are working with health and social care professionals across the city to improve support and care for people living in

Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care homes.

Through our work we aim to:

• ensure people in care homes have access to enhanced primary care and specialist services reducing, delaying, or preventing the need for additional health and social care services

• support care home staff to feel part of a wider integrated team spanning health, mental health and social care services and voluntary services across the city

• align budgets and incentives enabling the system to work collaboratively improving health and wellbeing

• promote a good understanding of the provider market amongst commissioners and providers empowering them to commission services in a co-ordinated manner

We are currently working to support:

• development of multidisciplinary team meetings for care home residents

• improved hydration and nutrition in care homes
• a shared approach to managing dysphagia (swallowing difficulties) 

• workforce development of care home staff

• access to urgent community care services

• falls prevention in care homes

Through our work we hope to support:

• multidisciplinary team management of long-term condition(s) and better outcomes

• reduced unnecessary hospital conveyances, admissions and bed days whilst ensuring people in care homes receive the best care

• people to receive the right care in the right place at the right time delivered by those with the appropriate skills where they choose

• reduce health inequalities experienced by those living in care homes

For further information, please contact Angela Green (Project Manager) on [email protected] or Tom Archer (Project Support Officer) on [email protected]

To view information on the three workstreams in the Enhanced Health in Care Homes programme or view progress updates for the programme click the buttons below.