New holistic approach for treatment in care home patients

A new multi-disciplinary approach to treating patients in care homes is being piloted in the Bridgend area by Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB.

The project looks at the management of swallowing, nutrition and medication in elderly care home residents.

Sheiladen Aquino, clinical lead Speech and Language Therapist for the project explained: “An elderly care home resident can often have multiple difficulties caused by aging. This commonly includes problems with swallowing (dysphagia) which can lead to malnutrition and missed medications.

“Until now, care home staff would need to ask the GP for referrals to three different services including a speech and language therapist for swallowing difficulties, a dietician for nutrition advice, and a pharmacist for a medication review. This means waiting on three different waiting lists and attending three different appointments.”

The care model being piloted in Bridgend brings these three elements together in an integrated multidisciplinary team where just one referral is needed to access three professionals. Patients need only attend one virtual appointment from which they will have an integrated care plan.

“Using the new technology available to us, we no longer need to bring these elderly patients into hospital for numerous appointments,” said Sheiladen. “We are upskilling and training care home staff to ensure that take a lead in facilitating appointments without the elderly person leaving the premises. 

“Disjointed care in elderly patients is proven to lead to hospital admission. By integrating care in this way, the care package is wrapped around the individual, enabling a sustained quality of care as well as greater comfort for the patient.”

The pilot project is being supported by the Bevan Exemplar Programme, which enables health and care staff across Wales develop and test their own prudent ideas to improve and transform health and care.

Joanne Cass, Clinical Lead at Picton Court Care Home has been working with the Health Board team on this project. Her team has recently received the training needed to get up and running. She said: “This was a well organised, multi team effort that was motivational and educational.

“It’s an advantage to have access to the knowledge held by you all, alongside the opportunity for members of the nursing team to ask questions and clarify aspects of dysphagia.”