- The policy combines medical, emotional and practical support
- “Being medically well enough to leave hospital is not the same as being better”
RedArc Nurses has developed a new proposition – the Post Hospital Service – which is designed to provide assistance to employees when they are discharged from hospital but still need additional support. The solution combines medical advice & emotional support, provided by a personal nurse adviser; and personal care & support with domestic duties in the individual’s own home, provided by qualified carers.
The policy is available for insurers to offer as a value-added service for group risk and health insurance policies such as group critical illness, income protection, private medical as well as other health insurances, and can also be accessed directly via subscribing employers for groups of employees.
The policy comes into play if an employee has had a 48-hour, or longer, stay in hospital. The stay can be for any condition (apart from pregnancy), including mental health, and can follow a planned or an emergency admission.
A personal nurse adviser sits at the centre of the service and provides long-term practical advice and emotional support by telephone to each person according to the employee’s own particular circumstances.* The practical help for employees such as washing, bathing and shopping, is provided by RedArc’s partner, Intana (part of the Collinson Group). All carers provided by Intana are Care Quality Commission (CQC) accredited domiciliary care providers and are qualified and supervised.
Research** shows that more than 2.5 million Britons would have no one to provide care or support them were they to be discharged from hospital following an overnight stay, and 3.64 million wrongly believe that the NHS or local authority would provide post-hospital support if it were needed.
Christine Husbands, managing director for RedArc says: “Being medically well enough to leave hospital is not the same as being better but many employees wrongly believe that the NHS provides post in-patient support. Our service fills a gap in the market that many may not be aware existed, but who will certainly feel the effects when they’re expecting support that isn’t supplied. This is much-needed support that pulls other employee benefits together and also works well standalone. Combining our service from RedArc together with Intana completes the circle of emotional and practical care.”
Lawrence Watts, Head of Home & Motor, Insurance & Assistance, Collinson Group said: “Individuals can feel abandoned when they first come out of hospital. Extra care and support at this time is invaluable and, crucially, it can ensure that an individual makes the best recovery possible.”
Benefits include:
- Dedicated long-term support from the same personal nurse adviser.
- Practical and emotional support when it is most needed.
- Short-term help at home.
- Mitigating the risk of the patient feeling abandoned.
- Building independence, confidence and reducing the need to rely on others.
- Reducing the worry and stress of arranging care themselves, with one point of contact throughout.
- Facilitating long-term management of the condition and mitigates the chance of hospital readmission.
- Improving wellbeing.
- Providing the much-needed and much-wanted time that is not available through traditional PMI or other healthcare benefits.
- Provides a differentiator as it positions businesses as a caring employer.
Highly valued by employees: the perceived value far exceeds the actual cost.
* Practical and emotional support provided by RedArc includes:
- Providing practical support, such as help with understanding diagnosis, treatment options and long-term consequences.
- Providing emotional support.
- Signposting the individual to other benefits offered by the employer under other benefits, such as physiotherapy from a Private Medical Insurance (PMI) scheme and counselling from Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).
- Helping the employee integrate back into the NHS following private treatment if needed.
- Developing a ‘Get well, stay well’ plan – which may include diet and exercise.
- Supporting the employee’s family by being on hand to answer their questions.
** Research was undertaken by Opinium for the Collinson Group amongst 2,000 UK adults between 15-20 September 2016.