Urgent and Episodic care
HomeFirst service – Providing integrated community responses
HomeFirst is our service that cares for people within their homes and communities, or supports them when being discharged from hospital, to help them regain as much independence as possible and reduce the risk of hospital admission. This helps people recover and stay well in their own surroundings.
Our service is delivered by a team of people from across health and social care services, including community doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, community matrons and re-ablement assistants from social care. Teams also work closely with mental health, voluntary and community organisations, carer and patient representatives, and district and borough councils so are able to access many other community services to offer patients a tailored care package dependent on their needs.
HomeFirst is made up of different services, all with a different remit, but all with a shared focus to support people within Surrey Downs to live as independently as they can - so they either stay well enough not to have to spend time in hospital or gain their independence back following a stay in hospital.
You can read more here on SDHC's community services or click the links below to find out more:
Urgent Community Response (UCR)
The UCR Service provides an urgent response in the community within 2 hours of being referred.
Virtual Ward provides consultant-led clinical support to patients in their homes.
Discharge to Assess is the term used to describe supporting people to leave hospital, when safe and appropriate to do so, and continue their care and assessment out of hospital.
The Recovery at Home team provide shot-term, home-based care and rehabilitation.
The Care Home Liaison team will support interactions between hospital and care homes, including residents of care homes, those attending ED and those admitted to Wards.