Shirley achieves her reablement goals in less than half the expected time

Shirley was admitted to St Mary’s Hospital at the beginning of January following a fall. When she was referred to HomeLink Healthcare for physiotherapy on 31st January, she was felt to be at a high risk of further falls.

The goals were for Shirley to become independently mobile with a Zimmer frame and to be able to visit the toilet by herself within four weeks, as well as being able to manage stairs and meals independently in five weeks.

In the first week of Shirley’s care, HomeLink carried out daily double-handed physiotherapy treatment and also made one nursing visit to monitor her two wounds that were identified whilst she was in hospital, before handing this part of her care to the district nursing team.

Shirley’s progress was remarkable. By the end of the second week, with physiotherapy sessions reduced to single-handed support, she had achieved most of her goals with supervision and demonstrated excellent mobility.

This improvement was reflected in her self-reported quality of life score (EQ-5D-5L), which had increased from 40 to 75 in the two weeks between 2nd and 16th February. Similarly, her mBarthel scores showed an improvement from severe dependence (a score of 45 on admission to our service) to moderate dependence (a score of 62 after two weeks).

Despite plans for her transition after the second week, delays in the community physiotherapist’s availability necessitated an additional week of support from HomeLink Healthcare. To ensure Shirley kept up the momentum and didn’t deteriorate, HomeLink provided two additional physiotherapy visits in week three.

Following her discharge, Shirley’s daughter reached out to our office to express her gratitude for the fantastic progress Shirley achieved during her time with us. She specifically highlighted the exceptional teamwork demonstrated by the HomeLink team and said she is extremely happy with the results and the support her mother received.