New initiative provides patients with community support at home to enable safe discharge from hospital

A partnership of charities across Cheshire West and Chester is working together to provide the Community Home First service, alongside NHS staff at the Countess of Cheshire Hospital. 

Community Home First is a new initiative that not only helps medically fit people to get ready to leave the hospital, but also assists with arranging comprehensive support to prevent readmission once they are home.

Cheshire Community Action is leading the initiative and employs community connector staff based at the Countess of Chester Hospital and at Leighton Hospital. Their role is to talk to people in the hospital who are well enough to leave and help them get home by helping them to tackle any practical problems that may prevent discharge.

After discharge, the local social enterprise Snow Angels also offers six weeks of support at home for older patients identified as at risk with the help of clinical staff. This includes providing social check-ins, shopping and prescription drop-offs.

Scheme partner Age UK Cheshire also offers dedicated home visits to newly discharged patients who require a more holistic and comprehensive level of support to aid their recovery and maintain independence.

Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust completes the service by providing specialist support at a vital time to carers who have been in hospital and have just got home.

Although the service only officially launched in January 2024, the partnership have already run a successful pilot scheme of the project in 2023 and is now looking forward to expanding the service and the number of people who they help to stay healthy and out of hospital over this coming year.