Better at Home: How our Urgent Community Services transformed Paul’s recovery
When 79-year-old Paul, from Whitstable, began to deteriorate at home following treatment for prostate cancer, his family feared the worst.
After a hospital stay at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate and rehabilitation at Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, Herne Bay, earlier this year, Paul returned home with limited mobility and carers visiting twice-a-day. But when he developed a urine infection, became dehydrated and stopped eating, his condition rapidly declined.
“We were really worried,” said Mike, Paul’s son-in-law. “The GP surgery kept prescribing more antibiotics over the phone, but no one was actually seeing him. He was confused and very weak.”
Everything changed after an NHS 111 call led to a referral to the Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Urgent Community Response Team. Consultant Dr Shelagh O’Riordan and a colleague from the team arrived at Paul’s home the very next morning.
“They were amazing,” Mike recalled. “It was like a whirlwind with no wind. Calm, kind and completely focused on Paul. No pressure, no rush.”
The team assessed Paul thoroughly, administered intravenous fluids to counteract the dehydration and ran on-the-spot blood tests that ruled out sepsis. Almost immediately, Paul began to perk up — talking, smiling and engaging with his family again.
“They brought him back to us,” said Mike. “Without them, he would’ve ended up back in hospital.”
Dr O'Riordan said: "thanks to advances made in the past five years, we are now able to deliver urgent hospital-level care for many conditions in people's homes, preventing many hospital admissions. This is vital not only for the smooth-running of health and care in Kent, but also for patients' wellbeing and ongoing recovery, as they will usually get better faster if we can treat them in their own home."
The team even arranged for Paul’s cancer treatment to continue at home, rather than having to travel to the surgery, lifting a huge burden for the family.
Mike said: “They showed compassion not just for Paul, but for all of us. It was care with heart.”
