The team provide short-term rehabilitation at home for people who are having difficulty in managing their normal daily activities following a recent illness or injury. Their work is about providing ‘care closer to home’, which helps to keep service users safe and out of the acute settings during the pandemic and beyond.

Their aim is to provide a person-centred approach to optimise independence and confidence, enabling recovery and preventing a decline in functional ability.

The service consists of physiotherapists, occupational therapists, assistant practitioners, rehabilitation assistants and admin staff. Their interventions can include provision of equipment, home-based exercise programmes, collaborative problem solving, and practicing activities to build confidence with new strategies.

One patient said: “I was very pleased with the service. The people who came to see me were very kind and pleasant and helped me a lot and gave me a lot of good information and leaflets. My thanks to you.”

The team works collaboratively with acute sector partners and care teams, to facilitate discharges by supporting the patients at home after returning from hospital. Duty therapists facilitate an ‘Urgent Community Response’ service to prevent admission to hospitals, where patients could be safely cared for in their own home with holistic clinical support in place.

Another patient said: “I am so glad for the care and support which I have received, I have developed my self-confidence and using the dependent equipment which you have provided. With your support the team support I am back slowly with my routine of life.”

Bharati Aggarwal, Clinical Lead, said: “It is heartening to see that the compassionate, timely and expert clinical care delivered by my team has been acknowledged by our service users, which is reflected in the fantastic reviews.

“I am extremely proud of my colleagues, who have been working hard and have continued to deliver high quality care during the recent challenging times.”

A daughter of a father who has been receiving support said the team’s help has been “invaluable.” She said: “the process has helped with making our lives easier with caring for him.”

A final service user said: “I received good observation and effective help. We cannot think of any improvement – her invaluable advice and ennoblement has brought great improvement to our daily regime.”