Defining the characteristics of intermediate care models including transitional care: an international Delphi study.

Background: Although there is growing utilisation of intermediate care to improve the health and well-being of older adults with complex care needs, there is no international agreement on how it is defined, limiting comparability between studies and reducing the ability to scale effective interventions.

Aim: To identify and define the characteristics of intermediate care models.

Methods: A scoping review, a modified two-round electronic Delphi study involving 27 multi-professional experts from 13 countries, and a virtual consensus meeting were conducted.

Understanding the Models of Community Hospital rehabilitation Activity (MoCHA): a mixed-methods study.

Introduction: To understand the variation in performance between community hospitals, our objectives are: to measure the relative performance (cost efficiency) of rehabilitation services in community hospitals; to identify the characteristics of community hospital rehabilitation that optimise performance; to investigate the current impact of community hospital inpatient rehabilitation for older people on secondary care and the potential impact if community hospital rehabilitation was optimised to best practice nationally; to examine the relationship between the configuration of intermediate care and secondary care bed use; and to develop toolkits for commissioners and community hospital providers to optimise performance.

Methods And Analysis: 4 linked studies will be performed. Study 1: cost efficiency modelling will apply econometric techniques to data sets from the National Health Service (NHS) Benchmarking Network surveys of community hospital and intermediate care.

The second national audit of intermediate care.

Intermediate care services have developed internationally to expedite discharge from hospital and to provide an alternative to an emergency hospital admission. Inconsistencies in the evidence base and under-developed governance structures led to concerns about the care quality, outcomes and provision of intermediate care in the NHS. The National Audit of Intermediate Care was therefore established by an interdisciplinary group.