Holbeach and East Elloe Hospital Trust

Holbeach Hospital is part of a rural Fenland town not far from the marshes and the port of Sutton Bridge. The area around the town is mainly agricultural with many employers being the food production industry. We have been running as a charity owned establishment since 1989 after the NHS closed it as a hospital, the local community did not want to lose the facility, so they rallied round to raise money to keep the hospital for future use. The hospital is supported by the League of friends and the hospital shop in Holbeach, resulting in much needed equipment and comforts for our residents and patients that reside with us. The hospital shop is very well supported by the local community with generous donations and volunteers showing how the local people feel about this long-standing local facility.
The hospital has a long and varied history including a workhouse for homeless people then it was turned into a maternity hospital. Some of our residents had their children here and the children now visit their parents, some of our staff was also born here. Holbeach Hospital is unique in what we provide for this area of Lincolnshire, and we are very proud of the reputation we have gained for our excellent standard of care.
We employ 100 people within the home doing a range of different shifts and different in different departments.
Holbeach Hospital is a 47 bedded care home, made up of 35 permanent residents and providing 11 short term care beds. Out of the 12 beds 5 are under contract to the Lincolnshire County Council to provide care for people requiring rehabilitation or assessment of needs, these beds are managed by a MDT who are employed by the NHS.
The other 6 beds are funded by the CCG and are used for a various range of conditions or situations that possibly mean that older people are unable to live in their own homes at that time. Our aim at Holbeach Hospital is to give the right care at the right time in the right place trying to avoid hospital admission to an acute hospital. These beds can be accessed by various professionals these being local GPs, Community Nurses, OTs, Care Co-Ordinator’s, Physios. TVNs, Nurse Specialist, MacMillan, St Barnabas and Hospital Palliative care teams. As the funding for these beds is already in place it means that the admissions can be assessed and agreed in a short space of time this reducing any stress or uncertainty for the patient.
We have had referrals from paramedics who have been out to a patient and in their opinion doesn’t need to go to an acute hospital but may only be the only option if we are not able to offer them a bed. However, in spite of our hospital avoidances plan there are sometimes situations where we need to escalate it to a acute hospital setting. Our trained staff know their limitations and will with confidence refer to hospital if appropriate..
The remaining 35 beds are for people requiring either long term care in a residential or nursing home setting or those awaiting a package of care to enable them to return home. We can accommodate and care for people aged 55 or over after we changed our registration as we’ve had many referrals for end-of-life care for this age group as before our age of acceptance was 65. In special circumstances we can take younger people. At Holbeach Hospital are very proud of our good reputation professionally in our delivery of wound and end-of-life care and socially for the high standard of more general care provided for our residents.