A Day in the Life of...

Andy, Hospital Support Worker

I am Andy and I work for the Hospital Discharge and Admission Avoidance Service as a Hospital Support worker. Here's an insight into my role:

My day started with meeting up with a new colleague, Emma, who had recently joined the team and who was shadowing me for the day as part of her training.

Our first visit was to a service user who had been referred to the Hospital Discharge Service by a social worker from Addenbrookes Hospital. The gentleman was being discharged and needed support once arriving home. This gentleman had previously lived in a care home and is now living in a housing association accommodation; for those over 65yrs. The referral to our service from the social worker covered a wide range of issues from accessing finances, to chasing up an insurance claim with the care home for water damaged possessions. 

 When we arrived at the address it was difficult to gain access due to the service user not hearing our knocks on the door, as he had a hearing problem. However, eventually we were let into his property, and we introduced ourselves and presented him with our name badges as identification. 

My usual visits (after gaining permission to share information) consist of going through a check list with the service user to gain a deeper understanding of their situation and to determine what steps are required to support them. 

However, at this visit it was obvious that the service user was more concerned with the lack of food that he had, as someone was not coming to do a big shop for him until the weekend. Therefore, I wrote a shopping list with the service user to get him enough food until the weekend. We then completed the check list with the service user, before leaving to do the shopping straight away. He was so grateful and visibly relaxed knowing that he would have food soon.   

It was then a case of prioritising the service user’s other concerns. Although he had enough cash with him, he hadn’t notified the DWP of his change of accommodation. I therefore called the DWP on his behalf to update them accordingly, this again took some stress away from him. 

I was just finishing on the phone when someone from the Income Team at the Housing Association turned up. She contacted the charity P3 whilst with the service user. I also spoke to lady from P3 on the phone, explaining that I had contacted the DWP about the change of address, and (with his permission) gave her the services users phone number to arrange to book a visit to look at other financial issues with him. Whilst this was happening, Emma was completing our hospital discharge form check list with the service user.  

The referrals that we took away from the visit, for our team in the office to chase up were: 

• Providing information on any community car schemes in the area 
• Report faulty front door lock.  
• Provide a list of companies that will fit carpet in the property 
• Contact the care home he was living in, to chase insurance claim for his water damaged possessions.  
• Referral for Household Support Fund application, to claim £110 
• He also consented to twice weekly welfare telephone calls. This will enable us to check in on him, see how he’s doing and keep providing support. 

We left him with a welcome information pack, which contains information about services and support available from us and other local organisations. 

Our next visit was to a service user who had been referred to our service by his sister. He lived alone with his dog, in a four bedroomed house. He is supported by his sister, but she lives a distance away and it’s difficult for her to visit him regularly.  

Although the service user is still able to use his own car, he wanted to move nearer to his family, and into more suitable accommodation. He has a number of chronic health problems, and he has fallen a number of times at home.  

During the visit we identified the need to fit extra grab rails in the property, as a visit from an Occupational Therapist only identified one at the back door along with a ramp. He has internet access, so I showed him various sources of equipment that would be helpful, from NRS Healthcare, Red Cross and Amazon. I also advised him about the Falls Prevention Team and he consented to me referring him to them for a visit. 

As he lives on his own, loneliness is a big factor in his life, so he agreed that we could see if there was a volunteer who could visit him weekly as part of our Sharing Time Service. I made the internal referral to my colleagues. 

He also agreed to weekly welfare calls from the Hospital Discharge Team in the short-term. 

He asked if there was someone who could help with his housework on a regular basis and agreed to a referral to our Homes Service to support with his cleaning.  

We talked about his income, and he agreed to someone from our Household Support Fund team contacting him about claiming £110.00.  

His sister, who was there on our visit, thanked me for presenting what Age UKCAP could offer, and said how pleased she was with all the extra advice, for being so friendly and taking them through the options in such a clear and understandable manner. 

Again, we left our Welcome Information Pack. 

Next, I went over the experiences with Emma as part of her training. Both visits were totally different and had their own challenges that needed sorting. We agreed that we had looked at the person and their own individual needs, suggesting solutions to the individual’s circumstances and actioning what we could, providing immediate practical support, which really made a difference to them.  

Back in the office, I updated our case management system and completed the administration work for the various referrals from today. My visits can be very varied and a wide knowledge about the local support available is needed, so I am also always keeping up to date with developments. I do this, checking emails from the stakeholders we work with, their newsletters on the internet, and we have team meetings where we share knowledge with each other.

Our service is to ensure the people we support receive a bespoke service and help to meet all their needs. We take our time and we listen. We ask questions to get the full picture and to the bottom of what might be causing concern so that we can offer complete wrap-around support. Our holistic approach improves overall wellbeing.

See links below to find out more and how you can support this service.