NHS - plan to pay untrained people to care for surgical patients

This idea is madness but I have often wondered why hospitals do not already have patient 'hotels', with mainly domestic workers but a few medical staff to deal with these situations anyway

DD was discharged suddenly at 6.00pm on the day she had major surgery because her bed was needed. She was able to walk and get around but still groggy and her discharge required her to comeback to either the hospital. GP or other specialist department for wound dressing every day a fortnight. She then had one emergency problem that took us back to A&E

If she could have gone to a facility as I describe she would have been fine. She needed help with washing and dressing, which could have come from untrained staff but would have been quite happy to spend the day in a day room and gone to a dining room to eat, even walked back to the main hospital, if on the same site, for her daily aftercare, but just having a medical room and nurse in the 'hotel' to deal with emergencies.

I think this is one of those 'fliers' that they put out every so often, so that we all get bothered, they then don't do it, and it distracts us from other cuts!
I am old enough to have worked as a nurse in the days of 'convalescent homes' which I think many of you will remember. They were mostly staffed by what were then called 'nursing auxiliaries' with a trained nurse in charge. Patients were encouraged to make tea, take walks in the grounds etc.
Of course these looked like little goldmines to people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing, and they were sold off to become private hospitals, nursing homes, or for development.
I personally encourage anyone who has an operation and has no-one to care for them at home either to get carers calling in, or book into a nursing home for a few days.

Oh for goodness sake! I worked as a hospital SW and what used to happen in the good old days was that people went to convalescence for a week. Still happens in France I believe.

The potential for exploitation (both financial and other) and other problems (food poisoning etc.) is huge. As McEnroe would say: You can't be serious!

Bring back convalescent homes.

The last one I heard about was one run by a Council where DMIL went for a month after a stay in hospital which had resulted in her losing about 3 stone.
They were excellent, very caring, she put on weight and gained strength before she was allowed home again.
This was about 20 years ago.

Is this for real?

Maybe with a little foresight, cottage hospitals which were enthusiastically closed down, could have become 'patient hotels' where people could convalesce close to their own communities.

Babies, plugholes and bathwater, anyone?

My mum, here in the UK, was offered convalescence after a a hospital stay. She turned it down, of course, and couldn't really manage at home after that.

I immediately thought of convalescent homes, too, as I was raised in a seaside town that had a number of them.

Blinko, in my area they're trying to bring back services to the community which were removed years ago with their wholescale local hospital closures. Surprise, surprise, they found that people didn't like traipsing miles and miles to access services and demand has grow so now they're looking for ways to fulfill that need in local areas.

You couldn't make it up - babies and bath water, indeed.

My H who was a keen sportsman had an operation on his cartilage in the early 1960s, be was in hospital for several days and then was sent for " rehabilitation " to a place in Derbyshire, many mlies from home for at least a week
Today he would have been in at 7am and out by lunchtime. We need a happy medium where money is not wasted and care and safety are not compromised.

I came home two days after major surgery last year. I am now on my own and would be happy to pay for someone to cook, do my laundry etc. for the first week or so at home.

Yes whatever happened to convalescent homes? Seems such a simple idea.

D.S. was in for a few hours for an op. Then turfed out. Good job he had us and a good friend to look after him. He was in terrible pain. Very distressing to see.

theres a scheme here in Scotland to fastrack refugees with a medical background through the necessary training so they can work in hospitals ..a far better idea I believe than untrained people being left with sick people .Refugees WANT to work especially when they have had a good career that they want to get back to .It makes sense to let them have a job where they are needed

carerooms.com/

It's being piloted in Southend-on-Sea.

The convalescent /hotel seems the way to go. The scheme being talked about currently seems fraught with danger for both patient and home owner.

I wonder what might be the responsibilities of the hosts, particularly if an emergency arose.

It tells you on the website, Blinko.

Had to remind myself that it's October and not April 1st. Convalescence homes should never have been sold off.

The link to carehomes is very informative durhamjen

"These CareRooms are equipped with monitoring equipment, mobility aids, external carers and technology to educate patients on their illness/injury and how best to avoid readmission"

I know Airbnb sounded weird when it was first introduced, but a scheme like this could work well in my opinion, providing the right patients are discharged to them and the hosts are appropriately trained and vetted.

It may not be perfect, but I would probably take this option over a convalescence home if I had to choose - maybe I've seen too many horror documentaries on the TV about care homes!

Convalescent homes aren't care homes.
Carerooms aren't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They've seen a gap in the market.
How much will it cost compared with reopening the cottage hospitals as convalescent homes?

I don't think it's easy to compare costs dj
There's no capital cost for the carehomes model, there's flexibility in the service provision ... that's what makes it an interesting proposition.
Convalescent homes are not run 'out of the goodness of their hearts' either, they are pretty expensive!

I agree that carehomes have seen a gap in the market and I think it's an interesting way to try and fill it. If it works for discharged patients and will free up beds then I don't have a problem with a creative solution. If it doesn't work for patients, then I'll have a problem with it.

It seems to have been set up by doctors. Perhaps they have seen stuff first hand, thought about it a bit and come up with a new idea - going back to how things used to be isn't always the solution. I'm all for letting them try it in an area to see if it improves the service for everyone.

I couldn't believe it when I woke up this morning to hear about this on the Today programme. Thanks for the link dj.
I can think of many problems around the safety and well being of particularly elderly people being looked after by people with no medical qualifications at all. Whatever next. Volunteers wanted to man emergency care rooms to take the pressure off A&E depts? This is actually being piloted in Essex but I thinks it just reinforces the care crisis and the system basically needs an input of cash, not private enterprise to solve it. Look at the disaster of privatising care homes and closing NHS cottage hospitals and convalescent homes.

Why do they have to have this system at all?
If patients are sent out of hospital to a room in someone's house, why can't it be a room in their own house, with the same back-up as in the system, and someone there 24/7 for however long it's needed?

When I had my aortic dissection, I was sent home after a month, but to my son's home. They would not let me go home on my own.
However, for much of the time I was on my own. Not overnight, and my daughter in law cooked and did all the heavy stuff that I was not allowed to do.

I certainly wouldn’t t like this I d rather be in a convalescent home if there are any far too much difference in people’s idea of care and for £50 a day the ‘carers’ have to give three microwave meals and drinks May as well do it yourself at home and struggle Far too much possiblilities of abusing the system