The service is to provide assessment, rehab and reablement therapy (physiotherapy and occupational therapy) to patients based within a dedicated reablement facility and to patients placed within a group of cohorted care homes.

Reablement, in line with national directives, plays a significant role in the planning programmes for the 3 local authorities (Leicester City, Leicestershire County and Rutland County councils) and the 3 Leicestershire CCGs; East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG, West Leicestershire CCG and Leicester City CCG.

Key factors of the planning programmes will be reablement programmes for people transferring from acute and community hospital beds into a therapy-driven service; assessment of patients following transfer from the acute /community in-patient setting to determine their health and social care needs; offer continued care & reablement provision for non-weight bearing patients that require continued care support and reablement prior to returning home.

The service is to be provided in a small number of care home locations across the 3 CCG areas and will accept referrals for people who no longer need to be in a hospital environment but are not yet able to return straight home, even with support. There are 2 aspects to the bed-based provision:

1) 14 residential level beds in the City of Leicester that will act as a dedicated reablement facility and where the therapy team will be based on a daily basis,

2) a group of cohorted nursing care homes (up to 10 care homes) that will offer assessment of longer term needs (including continuing health care) and reablement to decide the best discharge destination to meet the patients’ needs.

The number of beds will be 20 as standard with an ability to flex in times of escalation. The therapy provider is expected to provide assessment, support discharge planning with the case manager & primary care colleagues, and occasionally provide reablement to this cohort of patients meeting the service standards but is not expected to be based permanently in these care homes.

More information will be available in the service specification within the tender documentation.