Home First
For most people the best place to recover after being in hospital is at home. Once your hospital treatment has finished and you are on the mend, the Home First team will help you to get home as soon as possible and will ensure you have the support you need at home including care, physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy. Our aim is to support your recovery at home and help you maintain your independence.
Home First is a non-chargeable, short-term service, for up to four weeks. The service is for residents who pay their council tax to Buckinghamshire.
What to expect
On the day that you leave hospital and return home your care agency will visit you at home to talk about what support you may need and when carers will visit.
The carers arranged by Home First will help you with your personal care, will prepare meals and ensure you’re supported to eat and drink. They will provide medication support and can help you to get around your home safely. Home First carers are unable to assist you with shopping and domestic tasks, however, the Home First team can refer you to other agencies who may be able to help, if you don’t have family members/friends that can support you.
Within a few days of returning home you will be visited by a physiotherapist or an occupational therapist who will assess how well you are getting around your home. They will recommend equipment that can help you to remain as independent as possible or which will enable your carers to look after you more safely. They may also show you some exercises to do and will advise you how often you should do them. They may also arrange for a support worker to visit you after a few days to help practice the exercises with you.
You will have a named case manager who will call you or a member of your family within the first week or two of you being at home to see how you’re getting on. The case manager will talk to you about the carers visiting you and will discuss any changes in your needs since your return home from hospital and then make any amendments required to your care package with the care provider.
Within the four weeks, the case manager will have a discussion with you about whether you need ongoing care, if so the case manager will talk to you about referring you to Adult Social Care. A social worker will then be in touch to assess your longer-term care needs.
The social worker will let you and the Home First team know if longer term care will be arranged for you and when this care will start. Once your longer-term care starts your care with Home First will come to an end.
Who can I contact for support?
Home First
If you have any questions or need to contact your case manager, you can call the Home First team on 01296 322400 (8am – 4pm, 7 days a week) or by email bht.homefirst@nhs.net
Your care agency will provide you with their contact details on their first visit, should you need to contact them about the carers that visit you.
Your GP
For regular medical advice, please phone your GP as usual. Your GP will be aware you have been discharged with Home First support.
Urgent Medical Advice/Emergencies
If you require urgent medical advice, please phone 111. If you have a life-threatening emergency, ALWAYS call 999.
Age UK Bucks
An independent charity, supporting older people across Bucks. They can provide information and advice, support with welfare benefit entitlement and claims and offer a befriending service.
Age UK has a hospital discharge service, that supports patients for up to 6 weeks post hospital discharge, with tasks such as shopping, light housework and collecting prescriptions.
01296 431911 – www.ageukbucks.org.uk
Carers Bucks
Carers Bucks provides a free information, advice and emotional support service to unpaid carers who have loved ones in hospital, and beyond their hospital stay.
Call 0300 777 2722 or email mail@carersbucks.org
Feedback
We are always looking for ways to improve the Home First service and we welcome your feedback.
You can provide feedback by email to bht.homefirst@nhs.net or alternatively, you can call the Home First team on 01296 322400 and one of our team will be happy to take your feedback over the phone.