Bridging service

If you are being cared for by the Bridging service, this information is to help you and your family understand what to expect during your care.

Our Trust are working in partnership with County Council’s and social care services to help you if you need care at home following a hospital admission. 

The Bridging service helps with enabling you to be safely discharged from hospital as soon as they are medically optimised and who are awaiting social care services to provide a suitable domiciliary care package. They will provide an interim domiciliary care package to enable you to return home.

The service is led by the integrated care team and delivered by senior healthcare assistants (HCA).

How you are referred to us

Once your doctor or clinical team have confirmed you have received all required treatment in hospital and are medically optimised, your ward nurses will inform the Integrated Discharge Team (IDT)  that you are fit for discharge. If your care package is not able to be arranged straight away by social services, you will be referred to the Bridging service who will assess your suitability and you will be informed of when you can return home with the support of Bridging service until your social care package can start.

How we care for you when you are at home

We will have received a care plan which details all your current needs before you are discharged home. This will enable us to know exactly what is needed to help you at home. It’s important that your discharge letter is kept on your person at all times, so we can make sure any important information about your hospital stay and medication is easily available for the HCAs.

The HCAs can help with a wide variety of daily living tasks depending on your needs including:

• Washing and dressing.
• Toileting and hygiene needs.
• Mobility needs.
• Preparing ready meals, light snacks and drinks.
• Medication administration and prompting.

Visit schedule 

Depending on your care plan and needs, we can accommodate home care visits up to four  times a day, this will be identified on your care plan.

Visit times:

• Morning visit – between 7am to 11.30am.
• Lunchtime visit – between 12noon and 2.30pm.
• Tea-time visit – between 3pm and 6pm.
• Bedtime visit – 7pm to 10pm.

We will do our utmost to visit you within a set timeframe each day, please understand that sometimes we may be a little early or late, due to unforeseen circumstances such as traffic or emergencies.

To help make sure the care we deliver is of the highest standard, please:

• Talk to staff about your recovery and follow the advice that you are given. If there is anything you don’t understand, please tell us so that we can explain it to you.
• Let us know about any outpatient appointments or any other commitments that will mean you will not be in when we visit you.
• Look after any equipment that is issued to you as part of your care.
• Keep your medicines safe and secure at all times, and store as directed.
• Please refrain from smoking at least an hour before we visit and during

Our visiting team will always comply with latest Health and safety advice with PPE (Face masks, gloves and aprons etc).

The team

The team is made up of senior healthcare assistants, who are led and guided by qualified nurses and a multi-disciplinary team of professionals.

They have a broad range of healthcare skills and experience to support you during this period of recovery and settling back into your own home.

Staff work closely together as an integrated team to provide you with the best possible care. They will work alongside social care and other community services to ensure a seamless service.

When you may need to contact us

You or your family member should contact us if:

• you have an unexpected change in your medical condition and need advice.
• you are unsure how to take your medication or need advice.
• you have a problem with a piece of equipment provided on your discharge.
• a staff member has not arrived within the allocated time frame.
• you will not be available for your planned visit(s).

Contact us

Call us on 01268 524900 using extensions 3702/3868/3956/8846 between Monday and Sunday between 8am and 7pm.