What is the Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHCH) Framework?

The Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHCH) framework is a significant component of the strategy to improve the health and well-being of residents in care homes.

Established as part of the NHS Long-Term Plan, the framework aims to deliver high-quality healthcare through collaborative and integrated services.

Overview

The EHCH framework is designed to ensure that residents of care homes receive proactive, personalised, and well-coordinated healthcare services.

The core idea is to bring together primary care, secondary care, community services, and social care to work as a single team, providing comprehensive and continuous support to care home residents.

Objectives

• Improve Quality of Life: Enhancing physical and mental health outcomes for care home residents.
• Reduce Hospital Admissions: Minimising the need for unscheduled hospital visits and admissions by providing timely and effective care within the care home setting.
• Personalised Care: Offering tailored healthcare plans that meet the individual needs and preferences of each resident.
• Preventative Care: Focusing on prevention, early identification, and management of health conditions.

Core Elements

Enhanced Primary Care Support:

• Provision of consistent medical support with designated General Practitioners (GPs) and healthcare professionals visiting care homes regularly.
• Development of personalised care plans, medicine reviews, and regular health assessments.

Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Working:

• Integration of various health and social care professionals, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nutritionists, and mental health specialists.
• Regular MDT meetings to review resident health and ensure coordinated care delivery.

Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments:

• Detailed assessments which consider physical, mental, and social needs to create holistic care plans.

Access to Out-of-Hours/Telehealth Support:

• Ensuring residents have access to healthcare services outside of regular hours and through digital health solutions when needed.

Close Links with Social Care:

• Collaboration with social care providers to ensure residents’ social and emotional needs are met alongside their health requirements.
• Coordination with local authorities and care home staff for seamless service delivery.

Training and Development for Care Home Staff:

• Ongoing education and training programs for care home staff to enhance their skills and knowledge in providing healthcare support.

Pharmacy and Medication Reviews:

• Regular medication reviews by pharmacists to ensure appropriate use and to minimise polypharmacy risks.

Implementation

• The framework is usually implemented through local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and integrated care systems (ICSs).
• It encourages the use of digital tools and data sharing to improve care coordination and efficiency.

Outcomes

The EHCH framework is expected to:

• Enhance the overall resident experience by providing dignified and compassionate care.
• Improve health outcomes with reduced emergency hospital admissions and length of hospital stays.
• Promote a more sustainable and efficient health and social care system through better resource utilisation.

In summary, the Enhanced Health in Care Homes framework is a holistic, integrated approach intended to deliver better health outcomes for care home residents through a coordinated, multi-disciplinary model of care.