Enniskillen nursing home operated by Western Trust to close

The home had been serving as a ‘halfway house’ between hospital and home or care homes for patients who had been discharged from the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH).

Drumclay Nursing Home cared for patients from elderly wards, medical, surgical wards and Emergency Department who had been discharged from hospital but were unable to return home, or to a care home, full-time.

It was widely viewed in the community as a move by the Western Trust to combat overcrowding of beds in the SWAH.

The facility also played a vital role in the rehabilitation of Covid-19 patients during the pandemic.

The Western Trust had taken ownership of the home from The Ebbay Group in a short-term lease from December, 2018 to August, 2020, with the lease then extended until this April.

A spokesman said the closure was part of a ‘Test of Change’ project developed by the Western Trust.

The closure of the home will be a model of care for the community, he added, and said: “This Test of Change model of service, designed in partnership with the community, has enabled Trust teams to now move to the next stage of development.

“[This is] one that is supporting patients who would benefit from acute and longer-term rehabilitative care in a homely setting, to receiving that sub-acute care in their actual home, in ways that will prevent them from going to hospital in the first place, as well as to facilitate their discharge more quickly should they be in hospital.

“For anyone who lives in a residential or nursing home, this service will equally provide for their treatment and rehabilitative needs.”

It is understood that the services will be replaced with The Hospital from Home Service.

Speaking of the change, Dr. Bob Brown, Director of Primary Care and Older People’s Care, and Executive Director of Nursing, said: “Over the past 18 months the Drumclay facility has operated as a Pathfinder exemplar, supporting people to return home by improving their functional ability and rebuilding their self-confidence.

“ Our experience of operating Drumclay as a hospital avoidance and step-down from hospital service has now provided the vision for how services should be developed in the future.

“It has emphasised the need for a model of care for older people with services that are centred around communities, and a focus on maintaining older people safely at home for as long as they wish.”

Dr. Monica Monaghan, Western Trust Consultant Cardiologist, said the Hospital at Home project will “transform the care of our patients and create an alternative pathway for the treatment of acutely unwell patients”.

She continued: “We recognise that we have an increasingly elderly population and patients who remain in hospital for what can be longer periods of time than we would like.

“[They are] thus at increasing risk of hospital-acquired infections, loss of their confidence, and social connections with their family and local community.

“They are also out of their home environment, and for some people of older age who experience frailty, they can be at increased risk of delirium and falls.”