Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHCH) e-Portal

EHCH Team - What We Do

The EHCH team delivers care to permanent residents in CQC-registered homes across Southport and Formby. The team delivers:

• A comprehensive, holistic assessment - reviewed annually
• Learning disability annual reviews and health action planning/reviews
  -to individuals identified as living with a learning disability.
• Implementation and annual review of personalised care and support plans
• Anticipatory/advanced planning,including:
  -treatment escalation planning (TEP)
  -ceilings of treatment (CoT) 
  -decisions about cardiopulmonary resuscitation
• Structured medication reviews
• Identification of patients who require addition to a GP's 'Gold Standards Framework' - a system for highlighting those who may, at some stage, require additional support. Such patients are reviewed at the monthly in-practice multi-disciplinary Gold Standards Framework (GSF) meetings. 
• Education for homes
• Referral to other services (i.e.: falls prevention teams)
• Home ward round
• Multi-disciplinary team input
• Review +/- reassessment after patients have had a hospital admission
• Review and assessments for any residents home staff may be concerned about

Activity NOT related to EHCH should be directed to the patient's own surgery, as appropriate. You can access individual practice websites here.

Information for Relatives / Advocates

Further information about what the team will do for your relative is available via the link below.

How to Refer:- EHCH Team - Southport (Southport patients only)

• For NEW PATIENT referrals, complete a care home referral form and return it via secure e-mail to the relevant team. 
• For RESIDENT OF CONCERN, complete a resident of concern referral form and return it via secure e-mail to the relevant team.
  -Ensure to provide as much relevant information as possible, including clinical observations. 
• We will accept referrals from the patient's own GP surgery, provided this is clinician-initiated for a specific issue. Primary care clinician referrals:- e-mail the relevant team. N.B. This is not an acute response service

Contact Us:
Monday-Friday, 9am - 5pm
01704 395807

Referral / Contact email: sfhealth.carecoordinator@nhs.net

How to Refer:- EHCH Team - Formby (Formby patients only)

• For NEW PATIENT referrals, complete a care home referral form and return it via secure e-mail to the relevant team. 
• For RESIDENT OF CONCERN, complete a resident of concern referral form and return it via secure e-mail to the relevant team.
• We will accept referrals from the patient's own GP surgery, provided this is clinician-initiated for a specific issue. Primary care clinician referrals:- e-mail the relevant team. N.B. This is not an acute response service

Contact Us:
Monday-Friday, 9am - 5pm
01704 835155

Referral / Contact email: formby.carehometeam@nhs.net 

Medication Information & Emergency Prescription Requests - for homes

Acute/Emergency Symptoms: When To Call 999 - for homes

Acute Referrals - for homes

2-Hour Urgent Community Response (Visiting Service) (GTD)

• Homes can refer any acutely unwell patients (excluding end of life) who do not need an ambulance
• The service offers: Advice, assessment and home visits
• 7 days per week: 8am - 6:30pm
• Remember: Have a full set of observations available for the clinician to triage (see online training section, below)
• Further information is available here

2-Hour Urgent Community Response (Merseycare)

Homes must refer all patients with any of the conditions below directly to the 2-hour UCR service, not the usual GP. Referrals can be made by any health or social care staff member where there is/has been any of the following:

• Fall - no SERIOUS injury, fracture or loss of consciousness
• Increased frailty - sudden loss of mobility or independence due to an event, such as infection
• Reduced function or mobility - sudden or gradual change in being able to cope with daily living
• End of life crisis support - where core services are not available to offer symptom control or pain relief
• Urgent equipment provision - equipment needed to support function and to keep the patient safe
• Confusion or delerium - increased or new confusion, including worsening dementia
• Urgent catheter care - blocked catheter or pain from a catheter-related issue
• Urgent diabetes care - when at risk of hospital admission or for a blood sugar measurement concern

Clinical Observations: Undertaking observations can be vital. These include: breathing rate, pulse, peripheral oxygen saturation, blood pressure, temperature and level of alertness. You will find instructions in the 'online training for community and care home staff' section, below.

Routine Referrals - for homes

Referral - Other - for homes

Requesting Proxy Access to Online Records

Homes can request proxy access to records, with a resident's permission. This is via the practice and it enables access to:-

• Ordering medication from the GP surgery
• Viewing drug allergies and sensitivities
• Seeing a list of immunisations
• Viewing test results
• Accessing past medical history
• Seeing letters - such as discharge summaries, outpatient follow-up letters, EHCH reviews, EHCH proactive clinical support plans (PCSPs)

Further information is available here.

Online Access to Records

Homes can register for NHS App proxy access. From here, you will be able to view GP records, including EHCH face-to-face reviews and copies of important documents such as proactive clinical support plans (PCSPs). You will also be able to request routine repeat medication from the patient's GP surgery.

NHS Mail Account Access for Homes

The EHCH team must have secure e-mail communication with homes. NHSmail is available to all domiciliary, residential or nursing care providers regardless of whether they support local authority, NHS or self-funded individuals. 

The Importance of Enhancing Health in Care Homes

The NHS long term plan is committed to providing the framework for enhanced health in care homes. 

The guide for care-homes may be of particular use to you / your team and can be accessed here.

The video links below highlight how we can work together for better care - learning from the EHCH vanguards.

Online Training for Community and Care Home Staff

A series of short videos (around 3 minutes each) describe how to take measurements from residents correctly (such as blood pressure and oxygen saturation), spot the soft signs of deterioration, and prevent the spread of infection.

These videos include:

1) Introduction to sepsis and serious illness

2) Prevent the spread of infection

3) Soft signs of deterioration

4) NEWS what is it?

5) Measuring the respiratory rate

6) Measuring oxygen saturation

7) Measuring blood pressure

8) Measuring heart rate

9) Measuring level of alertness

10) How to measure temperature

11) Calculating and recording a NEWS score

12) Structured communication and escalation

13) Treatment escalation plans and resuscitation

14) Recognising deterioration in people with a learning disability

NEWS2 Scoring:

You may wish to use this online link to calculate a NEWS2 score. 

HYDRATION for Older People - Training & Resources

It is really important that older people are and remain adequately hydrated. 

This e-learning course link provides training for community carers (of any role or level) and gives an overview of the hydration needs for older people and how to support people to drink more. 

This course takes around 40 minutes to complete. 

PERSONALISED CARE - Resources

The personalised care institute (PCI) provides a range of extremely useful (and free) courses for health and care professionals, regardless of profession or seniority.

The training offered includes:

1) Core skills - level 1 - 1 hour

2) Shared decision making - level 3 - 1 hour

3) Personalised care and support planning (PCSP) - level 3 - 45 min

4) Remote Consultation e-learning - level 1 & 2 - 30 min

5) A range of PCI-endorsed courses.

All courses are available via this link.

*Information Below - For EHCH Staff Only*