Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is marking the first anniversary of the opening of Finney House today, when it took over the residential facility to run a Community Healthcare Hub designed to accommodate patients who no longer need specialist hospital care.
The site was formally opened on 14 November, 2022, when the Trust took on the lease of the building and became the CQC-registered provider of services. Since opening, they have taken on all 96 beds within the facility and continue to provide care for Local Authority and private residents.
The Community Healthcare Hub has been a huge success, acting as a step-down facility for patients no longer requiring specialist hospital care, but needing support before transitioning back home.
The initiative has helped improve flow within Royal Preston Hospital and the local healthcare system, and continues to support discharge, patient flow and ease pressure on ambulance crews with over 1,500 admissions and 70% of patients able to return home with support since opening last year.
As well as freeing up beds across both hospital sites in Preston and Chorley, spaces are available to encourage patients to become involved in a variety of activities and socialisation, as well as a garden to the side and back of the building, and a community library.
In addition, the Trust also made the decision to continue offering residential services on the 32-bedroom Orchard floor, where the aim is to create a warm and supportive environment where residents can thrive and feel like part of an extended family.
Anne Kirkham, Head of Community Services, said: "Finney House has been a huge undertaking but one that has given us many rewards. It has been a delight and privilege to get to know our permanent residents and their families.
“We have been able to support the trust with seamless patient flow and help more patients achieve their goals to return home and prevent deconditioning. I couldn't have done all of this without the support and commitment of all our staff and social care colleagues and I look forward to the next 12 months to continue to make further improvements and streamline our pathways to best look after our residents and patients.”
Since opening, additional equipment has also been purchased to enhance the therapy provision and outcomes at the hub, which includes five specialist chairs, enabling all patients to spend time out of bed, various moving and handling adjuncts, gym equipment and functional assessment aids.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity has also supported Finney House to purchase a ‘Stair Trainer’, an electronic practice stair model which allows true replication of a patient’s home step/stairs, in terms of step height and handrails. Prior to this piece of equipment, the therapy team’s only option was to take a patient to the main stairs in the building, an isolated area with access to one handrail only.
Dan Hill, Head of Hospital Charities, said: “The Charity was delighted to be able to fund the ‘Stair Trainer’ equipment at Finney House, which has a positive impact to the rehabilitation of patients treated there. It is fantastic for our supporters to see the amazing projects they are facilitating across the Trust.”
Since taking over Finney House, the Trust has consistently received positive feedback from residents and their families who are both hospital and residential patients on the site.
Mark Wenlock’s father, Frank, was a resident for the last three years of his life and felt there was a noticeable overhaul of the way the facility was run from November 2022. He said: “The staff became family to Dad, and part of our family. The care and dignity that my Dad received was world class, I couldn’t have asked for anything more, other that the impossible and that he would get better.
“If the time comes for me to be placed into a residential home and it’s still run by the same people, it will be the only home that I will want to be in.”
