Encore Care Homes has launched what is claimed to be the UK’s first care home rapid response team (RRT) to help older people in a care crisis.
The RRT at Encore Care Homes operates across Dorset and Hampshire 365 days a year to assist older people who urgently require permanent or respite care.
A relative can call the RRT 24-hours a day, seven days a week, to arrange for one of the team’s clinical assessors to carry out a face-to-face or virtual assessment in a hospital or out in the community to discuss the best course of action.
The RRT can arrange an admission into one of Encore’s homes, where necessary, within 2 -hours of the initial call, depending on the person's care needs.
Encore said the RRT has already helped over 100 people who were experiencing a care emergency to access Encore’s care facilities which provide residential, nursing and dementia-dedicated care at Great Oaks in Bournemouth, Oakdale in Poole, Fairmile Grange in Christchurch, and Hamble Heights in Fareham.
The RRT is a free service for the community which aims to make the process of moving to a care home a simple and smooth one, alleviating the anxiety, uncertainty, and burden that comes with organising care for a relative.
It is the brainchild of George Jenescu (pictured, left), a registered nurse who works as a clinical assessor at Encore who has seen first-hand the pressure that the NHS is under to discharge patients and free up beds.
Through Encore’s partnership with University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, Jenescu and colleague Sebastian Ouseph (pictured, right) act as a single point of contact between the hospitals and the patient’s relatives.
They work with the local hospitals’ discharge teams, social services, and local care commissioning groups to facilitate access to a wide range of independent, assisted, and care home living services for older people.
Every person whom the RRT assesses will need to have a negative Covid test before being admitted into the care homes for the safety of the home’s existing residents, family members, and the team.
“Our vision is to be the go-to professionals and the first port of call when their loved one is at a time of crisis and quite possibly at the most vulnerable point of their life. They need the support of an expert to act as an intermediary to help them consider their next steps,” said Jenescu.
