A consultation into plans to help people recover at home rather than in hospital has launched.
The Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group plans to launch Home First in 2018.
The service will offer people the opportunity to rehabilitate and recover at home with support from healthcare professionals like physiotherapists and nurses.
If the option of going home from hospital is not right for patients, other places in the community can be offered including an enhanced nursing home or community hospital bed.
At the same time as starting a Home First service, the CCG also wants to maximise the use of theatres at Braintree Community Hospital for Orthopaedic surgery and change the way beds are used at the hospital to allow people to recover there after surgery.
In the next ten weeks, the CCG hopes to talk to local communities and groups about the plans and gather feedback from local people on Home First.
Dr Caroline Dollery, chairman of the Mid Essex CCG, said: “Advances in healthcare are creating new opportunities to improve care for people. Home First is a different way of providing rehabilitation and support to help people recover after a spell in an acute hospital.
"It works on the principle of people being discharged from hospital, once they are medically fit, to a place that would enable their best recovery.
"This place could be home, an enhanced nursing home or a community hospital bed – whatever is the most appropriate place for that person – there would not be ‘one plan for all’.
“We also recognise that change can be unsettling for some and that’s why we’d love to hear from local people on our plans so we can really shape a service that feels right for mid Essex.”
Consultation events will take place at:
October 17: Braintree Baptist Church, in Coggeshall Road, Braintree. 7pm to 9pm
November 7: The Plume Academy, Fambridge Road, Maldon. 7pm to 8.30pm
November 14: Chapter House, Cathedral Walk, Chelmsford. 6.30pm to 8pm
November 15: Braintree Town Hall, Market Place, Braintree. 1.30pm to 3pm
November 22: Club Woodham, Baron Road, South Woodham Ferrers. 7pm to 8.30pm
For more information visit http://bit.ly/2y9XYWC
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here