Patients who are almost ready to go home from hospital, but who require a period of recuperation to help them better prepare, are being offered a stay in a Homeward Unit at St Martin’s Hospital in Bath.

The 16-bed facility will allow patients to get better through a range of therapeutic interventions including help with mobilisation, support with healthy eating, getting enough to drink and increased interaction with other people on the ward.

The unit, operated by local provider HCRG Care Group for Bath and North EastSomerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB), will also help to avoid the deconditioning and hospital-based infections that can sometimes affect patients that spend too long in acute hospital beds.

The team on the Homeward Unit will work with patients and their families or carers to ensure they are in the best possible position to leave the hospital and begin their journey to the place they call home.

Patients recently discharged from the Homeward Unit have praised the support they have received, the standards of food and the welcoming and friendly staff.

Emily O’Hara, Head of Operations at Bath & North East Somerset CommunityAdult Health & Care Services for HCRG Care Group said:“Prolonged stays in hospital are not good for patients and how well they recover,especially for those who are frail or elderly and the Homeward Unit at St Martin’sHospital is all about helping people to be their best selves, get better and return either to their home or the place they call home.

“Our dedicated and caring colleagues will help them to achieve that goal by helping them to do as much as they can for themselves in a calm and relaxed environment where they will have time and space to properly recuperate.

“We’re incredibly proud to have been able to support the community, working together with BSW ICB to launch this new ward.”

Tracey Vines, newly appointed Ward Manager on the Homeward Unit at St Matins Hospital said: “We know that, for those patients who are well enough, getting home, or to the place that they call home, is the best thing for them.“Our Homeward Unit is all about helping our patients to achieve that by giving them the tools they need to improve their walking, getting around and building their confidence in a nurturing environment that will prepare them for the next stage in their recovery.”