ReAblement is a home-based rehabilitation service for older people

Description

ReAblement is for people who have experienced a functional decline due to an illness or trauma or lengthy hospital admission and as a result cannot manage, or are finding it difficult to manage activities of daily living at home. This is often the stage when an older person is identified as needing home support. The purpose of the ReAblement service is to restore physical & social functioning so that the person can regain independence and reduce the need for ongoing home support.

The team consists of an Occupational Therapy Assessor working with healthcare assistants (HCA) who have undertaken additional training specific to an enabling ethos.

Following a comprehensive assessment, goals are agreed in collaboration with the client. Each goal is further broken down into tasks and a care plan is developed. Over the course of a few weeks, the trained HCA meets the older person in their home or community and supports them to undertake the agreed activities and thereby achieve their goals. The care plan is then progressed and amended regularly as the client improves. Interventions can be restorative (learn or relearn skill) or compensatory (finding a way around a functional difficulty). ReAblement is a short term programme, lasting usually 4 to 6 weeks.

Outcomes include:
– Over 90% of service users show improvement in their functional scores
– Over 77% demonstrate improvement in their quality of life
– Feedback from service users is resoundingly positive:
“The confidence you instilled in me was fantastic, I realise now that I can keep improving”;
“Thank you for believing in me and motivating me, I’m delighted I achieved and exceeded all my goals”;
“The staff are so positive and so full of common sense, they really helped me to adjust and come to terms with what I cannot do and focus on the things that I can do”.

Aim of Initiative

To empower and enable older people to regain their independence at home after they experience a functional decline.

Who is it aimed at

Frail Older Adults

3 Steps critical to success

1. A clear understanding of what the concept of ReAblement is for all stakeholders involved including the older person, their carers, service referrers and ReAblement team members.
2. Goal setting is essential to the success of ReAblement. ReAblement is a strengths-based person-centered approach to promote and maximise their independence.
3. Ongoing engagement with local community, voluntary & social services to ensure the older person is linked in with services appropriate to their needs and preference. This helps to promote social contact and prevent loneliness after ReAblement.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. Recruitment embargo.
2. Significant change within the health system making expansion difficult.
3. Remembering that change takes time to embed.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. Improved autonomy & functional performance in everyday tasks. By building strength, confidence & problem solving abilities, participants can gradually reduce their reliance on assistance & regain control over their lives.
2. Improved Quality of Life & well being.
3. Workforce satisfaction.