A COMMUNITY bed which aims to prevent patients from having long stays in hospital and to give care as close to home as possible, has received its first patients.

The pilot scheme – known as a step up/step down bed because it gives either a step up from patients struggling at home, or a step down for those who no longer requite hospital care for up to six weeks – is based at Sycamore Hall extra care housing at Bainbridge, Wensleydale.

The bed has been funded by Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) with a grant for £500 from Richmondshire District Council.

Step-up/step-down beds are a short stay arrangement in extra supported housing schemes to assist patients with regaining mobility and retaining daily living skills so they can ultimately return to living safely in their own home. These beds can also be a preferred place of care for patients at end of life.

The pilot facility is an entire flat funded by the CCG. Patients who are referred to the facility by their local GP have access to their own kitchen, bathroom and living room as well as other communal areas including a garden with views of Wensleydale.

Dr Jonathan Pain, local GP said: "If the step-up/step down bed in Bainbridge had not been available, a patient would have either been admitted to a hospital bed or a private nursing home bed. Neither option would have been near home nor could their care have been provided by their own GP."

Following recent results of a public consultation on community health services and feedback from the pilot in Bainbridge, the CCG is now implementing these beds in other identified areas of Hambleton and Richmondshire.