Review of acute hospital services in the Mid - Health Service Executive

Review of acute hospital services in HSE Mid-West
An action plan for acute and community services
Key role of primary, community and social care in delivering care at
or close to home
The development of primary and community teams need to deliver a range of services to
support admissions avoidance and early supported discharge including assessment and
rehabilitation.
Discharge criteria for community services need to be robust to ensure that patients length of
stay is dependent on interventional need
All users of and referrers to community services should be signposted to the most
appropriate service via one access point to maximise use of all services
There is recognition of the need to develop fully integrated multi-professional teams to deliver
care closer to home
Teams should be supported with an appropriate infrastructure to support them in the delivery
of care pathways closer to home including referral rights, access to diagnostics including
radiology and pathology with timely turnaround of results, access to in-reach assessment
facilities including OT and physiotherapy gyms in community settings as well as access to
appropriate specialist opinion
Community services are increasingly developed as nurse and therapy led models with
access to medical opinion or review when necessary.
It is essential that as care is delivered closer to home, the skills and competencies of
community staff reflect the changing acuity and profile of patients.
Community services should have an in-reach component to their structure, with
communication and information sharing capability with acute hospitals to ensure patients can
be transferred to an appropriate community setting as early as possible.
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