NHS chiefs have reassured a health watchdog that a vital service to help patients discharged from hospital will continue after targeted funding was withdrawn.
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove set up a phone service for people leaving hospital in April 2020 as a response to the pandemic. Its volunteers helped about 2,700 people over two years.
It had to close the hospital discharge wellbeing project – known as HOPS – at the end of last month, leading to concerns people would no longer be able to access the support it provided.
Its chief officer David Liley wrote to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board asking how the NHS planned to support people with a “proactive” telephone support services and aid those at risk of self-harm and suicide.
At its meeting on Tuesday (12 July), he said: “We know we have the existing services. They were there before covid, during covid and will be there into the future. There’s the Mental Health Helpline, the rapid response services, the hospital social work team and the hospital mental health liaison services.
“We’ve worked very closely with all of those, and the messages they give us is the system is not well coordinated together, although individually they’re all fantastic services and do a great job.
“The system deals with only a small proportion of those people who are in need.”
Board chair Sue Shanks said the service was commissioned during a national emergency and was a valuable service.
According to the information she received from the NHS, an existing commissioned service that supplies direct home care support has taken on the post-discharged calls.
A single organisation now manages post-discharge checks to prevent delays to people receiving support.
She said: “It was great Healthwatch mobilised people quickly and worked alongside other voluntary community services supporting people being discharged.
“As we are working to restore recovery from the pandemic, all additional services commissioned by the NHS to support hospital discharged have been evaluated to see if they are still required and how they can be sustained and effectively delivered.”
Councillor Shanks confirmed that people needing self-harm and suicide prevention support have services available through the NHS and the council.
She said providing support is a priority for the new Sussex integrated care system, and she hoped coordination would improve to give people the help they need.
