Authors: Sarah Childs, Kingsley Bedwell
Year: 2019
Event: 2019 TheMHS Conference
Subject: The Hospital to Home Program (H2H) - Working Collaboratively to Keep People Healthy in the Community
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract:
Biography:
Sarah is an Occupational Therapist who has many years of experience managing mental health teams in the UK and Queensland. Sarah has expertise in the application and supervision of evidence-based programs and services. She has lead and contributed to several mental health research and evaluation projects on topics including employment, housing support, various clinical programs, physical health interventions and consumer and carer experiences of care. She currently manages Clinical and Service Delivery at RFQ.
Kingsley is chief executive of Richmond Fellowship Queensland (RFQ), His career has developed across professional service delivery; public health administration and policy reform; consultancy; community sector service delivery; peak body; research and evaluation and, voluntary roles. .Kingsley has had the opportunity to contribute to high level strategic health policy reform and system improvement and was acknowledged for his achievements by the award of a Centenary Medal “for distinguished services to health”.
The Hospital to Home Program (H2H) was developed and implemented in partnership with Metro North Mental Health (MNMH) in 2016. The program is an intensive integrated support service for people transitioning from an acute mental health ward back to their home in the community. The service targets clients occupying a bed without clinical reason, supporting them to successfully transition back to the community and reduce their risk of hospital readmission. RFQ staff are integrated with the clinical team on the ward and support the client with discharge preparation followed by six weeks of post discharge recovery support. The service works collaboratively with community treatment services, ensuring people remain connected with the clinical follow up required. RFQ engaged Associate Professor Yvette Miller to develop and conduct an independent evaluation of the program over a 12 month period from May 2016 to May 2017. The evaluation indicates successful implementation over this period, with significant impact on recovery and acute health service use for clients referred to the program. Clients experienced improved service integration and reported that the program helped them stay out of hospital and have their needs met in the community. This presentation will share details of our evaluation findings.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: People will learn about an innovative integrated model of service delivery that supports: a successful transition back to the community; improved recovery outcomes; and reduces the likelihood of hospital readmission.
Learning Objective 2: H2H demonstrates clinical (government) and nonclinical (community) services working collaboratively to improve recovery outcomes for people with mental health concerns.
References
Richmond Fellowship Queensland, 2018, Hospital to Home (H2H) Pilot Evaluation Findings
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