Solent NHS Trust and Portsmouth City Council join forces to shape the future of high-quality community inpatient care
Solent NHS Trust and Portsmouth City Council (PCC) are working together to provide a modern, integrated and responsive community inpatient service for the residents of Portsmouth and surrounding areas.
In recent years, it has become clear that the Jubilee House building in Cosham is not the ideal environment to provide inpatient care, for example the age of the building making it difficult to integrate modern ways of working and providing care.
At the forefront of our planning is a strong commitment to deliver an integrated, responsive service that provides high quality care in a modern environment for residents in Portsmouth and surrounding areas which is why, since COVID-19 pressures have eased, a number of options have considered the demand for community beds, staffing, location and the collective resources available locally.
A clear, preferred option has now emerged from that work which we believe will deliver the best service for patients and be the best working environment for staff. We plan to close Jubilee House by October 2022 and relocate the service to Harry Sotnick House to be co-located with PCC staff at the Southsea Unit.
This new integrated community bed provision will be led by Solent NHS Trust and consist of 30 Discharge to Assess (D2A) beds and 10 rehabilitation beds. PCC staff will transfer their employment to Solent. We are working closely with all staff involved, supporting them through this transition.
Suzannah Rosenberg, Chief Operating Officer at Solent NHS Trust, said: “Both the Jubilee House building and service have been long standing in the community, and much loved for many years for patients, their families and staff. It is now time to look to the future so that we can ensure patients receive the same high level of care but in a more modern environment.
“We are excited to bring our skilled and dedicated teams together to offer the very best clinical care for those in our communities when they need it, and to play our part in supporting the wider local system and the NHS People Plan to support people lead as healthy and independent lives as possible.
“We look forward to seeing this service to flourish in its new location.”
Andy Biddle, Director of Adult Social Services, Portsmouth City Council, said: "It is our priority that residents continue to receive the highest level of care possible, and that we are able to discharge people from our units in a timely way to help the maximum number of our Portsmouth residents being discharged from hospital.
"As part of this we are working closely with local health and care partners to develop a more integrated care model for our residents, and to ensure there are the right amount of community beds in Portsmouth.
“We believe our work with Solent to be the best scenario for staff and patients in the long term to ensure the right clinical expertise and resources are provided for our residents."