A Nottingham housing scheme that works to reduce hospital admissions has been given further funding to continue its work.
Nottingham’s Housing to Health (H2H) project, is run between Nottingham City Homes, Nottingham City Council, local NHS hospitals and the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group and supports people to leave hospital safely, free up acute and community care capacity, and find savings for the NHS and its partners.
Over the last year, the financial savings or value generated by this scheme for the NHS is £7.1m. Thanks to this scheme, there were 23,000 reduced bed days in the NHS or Adult Social Care.
The project was launched in November 2015 and to date, has rehoused 454 individuals into suitable social housing, and worked with 49 people at risk of homelessness. Now the scheme has been given further funding to continue its work.
In Nottingham, H2H partners work together to identify patients in hospital and in the community who are living in poor or unsuitable accommodation that is negatively affecting their health. The aim is to provide fast-track housing solutions to rehouse people into good-quality social housing.
Research estimates that the NHS spends around £820m a year treating older patients who no longer need to be in hospital. This scheme, which has helped to reduce the number and length of hospital admissions, has been shown to avoid 310 admissions to Nottingham’s hospitals.
The project has also evidenced improvements in the health and wellbeing of patients and their carers, enabling them to live independently and reducing their ongoing use of health and care services. The pressure on hospitals has improved because re-admissions per person have reduced from four to two per year. A recent report has also recognised the project as a national exemplar and recommends this and other similar models be used for national learning.
Cllr Linda Woodings, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Housing and Heritage at Nottingham City Council, said: “It’s great news that this scheme has secured funding to continue to help the people of Nottingham. Good housing has such an important impact on people’s health and wellbeing and the work done through this scheme to support vulnerable people into social housing is vital.
“The service continues to operate very successfully in a challenging environment for both the health and housing sector. The NHS continues to experience significant pressure on its acute services, such as hospital beds. In the housing sector, there is also pressure on social housing, as the number of properties falls due to Right to Buy. The Housing to Health service aims to benefit both partners by making the best use of available social housing properties for those most in need, and relieving pressure on NHS beds. ”
Naomi Robinson, Senior Joint Commissioning Manager at NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG commented: “We are pleased that further funding for the Housing to Health scheme has been secured following its success over the past few years. Housing is fundamental to people’s health and wellbeing and this scheme recognises the role housing plays as part of an integrated approach to help reduce hospital admissions and support safe and effective hospital discharge.
“It is a great example of partnership working across organisations with a shared aim of improving the lives of local people.”
Richard Holland, Assistant Director of Housing Operations at Nottingham City Homes, added: “It’s great news to be given further funding for this scheme and it shows the importance of the work by all partners involved. There are been some real positive outcomes for this scheme and by working in partnership we can help make a real difference to people’s lives.
“Housing conditions and someone’s health go hand in hand, so it’s important we continue the great work this scheme has already achieved. By working in partnership we can not only improve people’s lives but we are also helping to have money for NCH, the NHS and the council.”
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