Intermediate Care Framework – rehabilitation, reablement and recovery following hospital discharge
Shape how services are delivered and use the NHS England Intermediate Care Framework (ICF) to help you support people following discharge from acute hospital admissions.
Published in September 2023, the ICF is a good practice guidance for integrated care Boards. It builds on the work of discharge frontrunners and focuses on a number of recommended actions that systems should consider in partnership with their intermediate care services.
Following the trialing of new approaches for people to access high quality step-down intermediate care four key learning areas were identified:
- improve demand and capacity planning
- improve workforce utilisation through a new community rehabilitation and reablement model
- implement effective care transfer hubs
- improve data quality and prepare for a national standard.
The framework outlines how these can be addressed. The framework and rehabilitation model have direct implications and opportunities for OTs and support workers in acute, community and local authority settings. And while the ICF is only applicable to services in England, there is UK-wide relevance to the principles of therapist-led intervention supporting people to recover well following a hospital admission.
Read the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy FAQs about the Intermediate Care Framework.
Watch our webinar – find out how AHPs are putting the ICF into practice
A key recommendation of the new Intermediate Care Framework (ICF) is that people should have access to community-based, therapy-led reablement and rehabilitation interventions once they’re discharged from acute (physical) inpatient settings and virtual wards on intermediate care pathways.
Find out what else the ICF recommends and why it’s so valuable to you and the work that you do. Watch our webinar from Wednesday 13 March and:
- hear from colleagues at CSP, NHSE, RCOT and RCSLT
- find out how the Leeds Health and Care Partnership have put the ICF into practice
- think about the actions you’ll take to implement the ICF in your own workplaces
- get your questions answered.
You can also download the slides for the webinar presentation below.
Leeds Active Recovery pilot – great results for patients, clinicians and the system
Collaborate with practictioners using the ICF
If you’re interested in joining a network of practitioners using the ICF, NHSE host a network on the FutureNHS platform: Intermediate Care Programme - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform. To be added to the network, contact england.intermediatecare@nhs.net