For many patients, returning home from a stay in hospital can be a daunting and disorienting process; even more so if they lack family, friends or neighbours upon whom they can rely. Working in partnership with the ESNEFT (East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust) and the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, Community360 aims to ease this transition and provide a vital befriending service.
Home from Hospital volunteers help alleviate anxiety by making an initial visit to the patient before discharge. They will then continue to provide light touch support for up to 6 weeks through home visits. During the pandemic connections have been maintained through regular telephone calls.
All of our volunteers are carefully screened, DBS checked and trained. Volunteers are not involved in personal or medical care, and are not intended to replace a formal care-package. The support they provide might include:
- Visiting the patient in hospital
- Being a friendly, sympathetic presence for those who might not otherwise have companionship
- Checking in on them at home; in person and by telephone
- Collecting shopping, prescriptions or newspapers
- Accompanying them to follow-up appointments and assisting with transport
We provide our volunteers with the tools to introduce citizens to local social groups, charities and support services through Community360’s My Social Prescription™ and ultimately ensure that some of our most vulnerable are not at risk of becoming isolated.
Community360 also provides an early discharge transport service, Winter Resilience resources, Slipper Exchange and other services through the My Social Prescription™ team at Colchester General Hospital.
