Paper
Friday, 21 July 2006
Working Together to Meet the Needs of Older People Recently Discharged from Hospital
Joy Merrell, PhD and Gaynor Mabbett, MSc. School of Health Science, University of Wales Swansea, Swansea, United Kingdom
| Learning Objective #1: understand the valuable contribution which the voluntary sector makes to meeting the needs of older people. |
| Learning Objective #2: understand the challenges and opportunities of working collaboratively with volunteers. |
Background
Demographic trends indicate an increasing older population nationally and internationally, which places increased demand on health and social services. In the UK intermediate care services have developed to prevent avoidable hospital admissions, maximise older people’s rehabilitation following illness or injury and reduce dependence on long term care services (WAG 2003, 2002). In Swansea the “Bridging the Gap” project provided by a voluntary agency seeks to facilitate sustainable discharge from hospital for older people through providing multi-agency support encompassing district nursing services.
Aim
To evaluate the volunteers’ role within the “Bridging the Gap” project. Objectives included: exploring relationships between volunteer and health and social care practitioners and identifying challenges and opportunities of collaborative working.
Methods
A case study, stakeholder evaluation was conducted with a purposive sample of 14 volunteers, 3 health and social care practitioners, 4 managers, 3 partner representatives and 4 referrers. Data were collected using focus groups, semi structured interviews, and secondary analysis of client satisfaction questionnaires. Numerical data were analysed using SPSS and qualitative data using thematic analysis.
Results
Findings indicated that avoidable readmissions to hospital reduced and clients viewed the service as accessible and acceptable. Volunteers reported many benefits but this paper focuses on the opportunities and challenges of collaborative working for health and social care practitioners. Opportunities included learning new skills, new ways of working and broadening the scope of practice. Challenges included constraints imposed by statutory agencies, different organisational cultures and managing change.
Discussion
This study highlights the valuable contribution of the voluntary sector in meeting the increasing demands of an older population. Through collaborative working with district nurses and social workers older people recently discharged from hospital are able to maintain their independence. Whilst collaborative working provides many opportunities for district nurses there are many challenges. Strategies for addressing these challenges are discussed.
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