The central allocation team for care and health (CATCH) is a service which provides intermediate care upon discharge from hospital to reduce the length of hospital stay and re-admission.
Please note: this service is only available to people living in Central Lancashire.
When planning a discharge from the hospital, the clinicians will assess the needs of the patient and refer them to CATCH to support allocation of intermediate care to which meets the service user’s needs. This could be through reablement, Home First assessment and provision, community therapy, community beds for assessment and rehabilitation.
The CATCH service will monitor the availability of intermediate care provision across Central Lancashire to manage provision and reduce duplication.
The aims for the CATCH access point are:
- To ensure efficient use of intermediate care functions/services to deliver the right care at the right time for each person.
- To provide a clear understanding of the demand for intermediate care services
- To offer health and social care professionals one route to intermediate care for their patients
- To improve the process for access to intermediate care as a result of channelling referrals through one point of access
- To provide intermediate care in the persons own home, where this is not possible the team will allocate an alternative appropriate service
- To make best use of resources available to Lancashire County Council and CCGs to reduce unnecessary admission to acute hospital beds, to reduce length of stay, to facilitate timely and safe discharge and to reduce readmission rates.
CATCH is staffed by therapists, senior social workers, social care support officers and care co-ordinators and managed by an operational manager.
The service supports both the referrer and the intermediate care provider to manage the referral and facilitate the transition onto the service via one single point of access.