Agenda item

1.       That Surrey County Council’s initial investment of £1.7m in an Integrated Reablement Unit on the East Surrey Hospital site in Redhill operated by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust be approved.

2.       That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Adult Social Care Wellbeing and Independence, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Health, to approve legal arrangements to develop and bring the Integrated Reablement Unit into operation.

Reasons for Decisions:

The provision of an Integrated Reablement Unit in East Surrey will provide an improved process for discharge from hospital and enable Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SaSH), East Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group (ES CCG) and Surrey County Council (SCC) to make better use of their available resources. It will be the first step in system transformation in East Surrey to provide a better service to Surrey residents. The creation of the unit will release immediate financial savings for the health system and is anticipated to achieve cost avoidance for the County Council.

The Integrated Reablement Unit will allow people to receive an intense rehabilitation service which will enable greater independence on discharge. This will in turn ensure that more can be delivered for less cost but with improved outcomes, helping to maximise efficiency across both Health and Social Care.

Developing the unit at pace will mean that it will be ‘up and running’ in time to help support the health and social care system with ‘winter pressures’.  During the winter months there is increasing demand on services, especially bed capacity at East Surrey Hospital. This Unit will ensure people receive a timely assessment which will provide an individual support plan detailing need and how this will be met.

All people transferred to the Integrated Reablement Unit will be medically fit for discharge from the acute wards. Transferring to the Integrated Reablement Unit will reduce the risk of further infections, consequently reducing the risk of increased length of stay for people in a hospital environment. Discharge processes will be more streamlined, which would provide better out comes for people.

The Integrated Reablement Unit will enable Health and Social Care to work collaboratively together to provide the best possible outcomes for East Surrey residents.  

[The decision on this item may be called in by the Social Care Services Scrutiny Board or the Wellbeing and Health Scrutiny Board]

The Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Health said that the integration of health and social care was a key strategic priority for Surrey County Council and its partners, and to improve outcomes for residents. The proposal to develop the Integrated Reablement Unit highlighted the partnership working that was taking place between Surrey County Council and the NHS.

She said that Cabinet were being asked to approve an initial investment of £1.7m and that the timing of this provision was very important to being able to manage the increase in demand associated with winter and the additional pressure this created on health and social care services.

The Integrated Reablement Unit would contribute to the Council’s corporate Wellbeing objective by supporting older people to be discharged from hospital more quickly and to live independently in the community.

It was hoped that the creation of the integrated Reablement Unit would help reduce pressures on services at East Surrey hospital and reflected the new ways of working in partnership with the NHS.

RESOLVED:

1.       That Surrey County Council’s initial investment of £1.7m in an Integrated Reablement Unit on the East Surrey Hospital site in Redhill operated by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust be approved.

2.       That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Adult Social Care Wellbeing and Independence, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Health, to approve legal arrangements to develop and bring the Integrated Reablement Unit into operation.

Reasons for Decisions:

The provision of an Integrated Reablement Unit in East Surrey will provide an improved process for discharge from hospital and enable Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SaSH), East Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group (ES CCG) and Surrey County Council (SCC) to make better use of their available resources. It will be the first step in system transformation in East Surrey to provide a better service to Surrey residents. The creation of the unit will release immediate financial savings for the health system and is anticipated to achieve cost avoidance for the County Council.

The Integrated Reablement Unit will allow people to receive an intense rehabilitation service which will enable greater independence on discharge. This will in turn ensure that more can be delivered for less cost but with improved outcomes, helping to maximise efficiency across both Health and Social Care.

Developing the unit at pace will mean that it will be ‘up and running’ in time to help support the health and social care system with ‘winter pressures’.  During the winter months there is increasing demand on services, especially bed capacity at East Surrey Hospital. This Unit will ensure people receive a timely assessment which will provide an individual support plan detailing need and how this will be met.

All people transferred to the Integrated Reablement Unit will be medically fit for discharge from the acute wards. Transferring to the Integrated Reablement Unit will reduce the risk of further infections, consequently reducing the risk of increased length of stay for people in a hospital environment. Discharge processes will be more streamlined, which would provide better out comes for people.

The Integrated Reablement Unit will enable Health and Social Care to work collaboratively together to provide the best possible outcomes for East Surrey residents.