The Nottingham Housing to Health (H2H) project provides fast-track housing solutions for patients in hospital and in the community through joined up working across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
The H2H service is a joint project between Nottingham City Homes (NCH) and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The partners work together to identify patients in hospital and in the community who are living in poor or unsuitable accommodation that is negatively affecting their health. The aim is to provide fast-track housing solutions to rehouse them into good-quality social housing
Delays in transfer of care have been identified as a significant issue for the NHS, placing additional burden on the health service, as well as putting patients’ health at risk. By working together across the ICS to provide fast-track housing solutions for patients in hospital and in the community, the project has been able to deliver financial savings to the health service, local authority and housing provider.
The project has also improved the health and wellbeing of patients and their carers, enabling them to live independently and reducing their ongoing use of health and care services.
The service has helped avoid 23,000 days of delayed transfers of care from the NHS or social care facilities; and the pressure on hospitals has improved because re-admissions per person have reduced from four to two per year following housing support.
As a result of the service, 98 per cent of patients now feel safe in their home.
The report provides very strong evidence of the benefits that can be achieved through partnership working to the people of Nottingham and describes the practical steps that helped it to happen.
