Plans to provide more care for people recovering from a spell in hospital

Leeds City Council and its partners, including Leeds Community Healthcare Trust, have been awarded a multi-million pound contract to provide 72 community beds across the city.

The new contract is part of a procurement exercise for 190 community beds in total, undertaken by the Leeds Clinical Commissioning Groups.

It will provide a range of community care across the city focusing on faster recovery for people leaving hospital after an illness to return home and also helping to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.

As part of the successful tender, two council facilities, the South Leeds Independence Centre (SLIC) and Suffolk Court, will provide two of the city’s required community bed bases with dedicated nursing care provided by Leeds Community Healthcare Trust, the lead contractor for a range of services being delivered through the contract.

Meanwhile, last year Leeds City Council also secured funding through the Better Care Fund, to provide 37 community care beds at The Green, a former council-run residential care home.

The Green is now being refurbished and will re-open in November 2017 as a recovery bed base which forms part of the wider Leeds Recovery Service.

The refurbishment of The Green, along with the announcement of the CCG contract for SLIC and Suffolk Court, increases overall the level of in-house community beds provided by the council, covering the South and East, North and West areas of the city and ensuring a greater presence of community bed recovery services across Leeds.

It reflects the significant investment across the Leeds health and care sector in new day centre provision and services for older people to help them re-gain their independence and stay in their own homes for longer.

Councillor Rebecca Charlwood, Leeds City Council executive member for health, wellbeing and adults and Chair of Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board, said:

"We’re pleased to have secured the future of The Green, SLIC and Suffolk Court. Our successful bid endorses the council’s strategy in investing in recovery services, demonstrating that despite financial challenges, we remain innovative in our approach to help people recover and reclaim their independence.

“It also means new job opportunities as we will need to increase our staffing levels to deliver these facilities.

“This is an exciting step forward in this new approach with our health partners, in particular, Leeds Community Healthcare Trust, and we will work together to ensure a seamless transition to the new services across all three facilities. “

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