Referral and funding

Holy Cross Hospital provides services for severely disabled adults requiring rehabilitation, respite or long term care. This may include people with:

Acquired brain injury
Degenerative diseases e.g. Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease, Huntingdon’s Disease
Non-communicating or low awareness state
Dependency on ventilator or tracheostomy
Severe burns (usually an interim placement between surgical interventions)

Following referral we normally visit the patient and undertake a pre-admission assessment to identify their specific needs. We also encourage prospective patients and/or their families to visit Holy Cross prior to admission. Following the assessment a comprehensive report is prepared including details on proposed fees. Funding agreement must be in place prior to admission. This may be available from the patient's Primary Care Trust and/or Social Services. In some cases joint funding between these services may be available. We also welcome patients wishing to fund themselves. We are always happy to be contacted direct to discuss patients’ needs and for advice on referrals.

Ongoing Assessment

Patients are reassessed three months after admission and a meeting held with all interested parties to review progress and agree future plans. Further assessment is ongoing throughout the patient’s stay with 6-12 monthly reports and review meeting as appropriate for each individual.

Quality Assurance

We measure the quality of our service provision through a planned programme of clinical audit, which provides a systematic method for reflection and review of practice. Changes to practice and organisation of patient care is based on evidence including collection of data and an open and honest reporting structure.

Clinical Governance

The most widely used definition of Clinical Governance is ‘a framework through which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish’. At Holy Cross we describe clinical governance as doing the right thing in the right way, at the right time, by the right person or team. We have a commitment to deliver high quality care continuously striving for improvement. We have systems in place to methodically review all areas of patient care minimising risk, learning from good practice and mistakes and implementing change to achieve improvement.

If you have any questions or for further information please contact Carol Fowlie, Director of Clinical Services.