New Project to Help NHS Bed Issues on Yorkshire Coast

A new scheme to help ease the NHS beds crisis is being extended to the Yorkshire Coast.

The CareRooms project will pay local homeowners to give an extra hand to those needing support after surgery or a fall.

The idea is to enable patients to be discharged more quickly from Hospital by matching them up with a host who can provide a few days care in their own home.

North Yorkshire County Council ran a pilot project in Selby, which is now being extended to Scarborough and Whitby.

Lizzie Gaudin from CareRooms explains who it's for.

The idea is that local homeowners will be paid to provide a room for patients who are medically able to leave hospital but require some extra care support before going home.

The impacts of Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis on staffing levels in the care sector have been particularly keenly felt in rural and coastal areas of the county.

Last summer the County Council reported it was seeing more people staying in hospital longer than they need to owing to due to the lack of available places to discharge patients who are not ready to be at home by themselves. At the end of last year, 190 patients were delayed discharges in North Yorkshire despite meeting the criteria for discharge, because of a lack of suitable care elsewhere.

The authority says while efforts to boost recruitment into adult social care has continued at pace with co-ordinated campaigns, vacancies remain in many areas that are adding pressure to both its services and the wider care market.

The council says the scheme will also be introduced in parts of the county where is such a lack of respite provision that those needing looking after would need to travel outside of their local area.

Lizzie Gaudin from CareRooms says the arrangement works for both the guest and the host.

The community initiative which was successfully trialled in Selby last year has led to a further two year contract between CareRooms.com and the local authority, which will provide more than 500 bed nights across the county from Richmond and Ryedale to Scarborough and Whitby.

Now CareRooms.com is launching a recruitment drive across the north of the county to find 20 new Hosts who can offer short-term  accommodation for people needing a homely environment after being discharged from hospital.

Potential Hosts will be vetted, interviewed and DBS checked. CareRooms.com have stringent safeguarding measures in place and provide a comprehensive training and support package for Hosts who will be paid £350 per week for the room.

Hosts can work flexibly around their existing commitments but are asked to serve Guests with three meals a day - which are provided by   CareRooms.com so no cooking is involved - drinks, friendly conversation and to ensure they refresh and clean the room after each stay.

Careroom say their team work together with NHS discharge managers, doctors and nurses and can introduce care packages where needed which can include washing and dressing. The latest tele-care and monitoring equipment is fitted into the Guest’s room to ensure their vital signs are checked constantly and there is 24-hour a day video access to a GP service.

Lizzie Gaudin Said:

‘There is a great deal of willingness in the community to try and help the NHS crisis and CareRooms.com and North Yorkshire County Council were encouraged by the success of the trial in the Selby area,’

‘Many of the Hosts who have joined us are former nurses and people in the caring professions who may have retired early but still want to be able to help their communities. And the feedback that we get from them is that they feel a great sense of achievement when they can help boost the
spirits and confidence of a Guest laid low after an illness.

‘It’s a real joy for them to see someone feel comfortable about going home and living independently again.

‘We are delighted that North Yorkshire Council backed us when we launched the trial and, having seen it’s early success, are partnering with us again for the next two years. It is an alternative choice for the future of our health care at a time when our NHS is struggling with bed shortages
and waiting lists.'