An invaluable new partnership has been formed to facilitate timely hospital discharge for older people. The Fremantle Trust has been praised by families of those who have used this new integrated care service, which provides short-term intermediate care for patients receiving therapy support, discharged from nearby Stoke Mandeville Hospital, as a ‘stepping stone’ before returning home.

Martha O’Neill, whose mother Betty Baughan spent six days at Fremantle Court after being discharged from hospital at the end of December, saw a real change in her mum. Betty was supported to become more mobile using her walking frame and helped with her personal care too. Martha said: “Mum was like a different person at Fremantle Court and it was reassuring to see her being surrounded by people looking after her. It was a good experience for her and she’s now back at home in Aylesbury.”

83-year-old Reginald Sear from Chesham spent eight days at Fremantle Court in January after he was discharged from hospital recovering from a fall. He is now receiving nursing support at home and was keen to thank the team at the care home for their excellent care and support. He said: “Fremantle Court is a lovely place. It was good to have someone to keep an eye on me and I really enjoyed the meals. The night nurse was fantastic and checked on me regularly to see if I was OK.”

The Fremantle Trust is working with Buckinghamshire Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), which includes NHS Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, to make this service possible and offer reablement at Fremantle Court care home. The initiative supports a seamless hospital discharge process and offers a welcoming and caring environment in which patients are able to continue therapy assessment prior to being discharged to the community team.

Sara Livadeas, CEO of The Fremantle Trust, said

We are really pleased to work with the whole system to make sure older people get the right care in the right place at the right time.

Councillor Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, speaking on behalf of the Buckinghamshire ICP, said:

This new partnership with The Fremantle Trust is very welcome and offers older patients an extremely important service to support them with their recovery.

While hospital stays are sometimes necessary, needlessly long ones can eventually be damaging to older people’s long term health and mobility. This new ‘stepping stone’ service means people can be discharged into a more appropriate safe setting when they are medically fit to get the support they need before returning home.