FAQs

The Hospital at Home Team manages a specific cohort of patients who can now choose to be looked after in their own homes rather than be normally treated in a hospital. Patients are treated as though they were admitted to a hospital but managed within their own homes. NHS Western Cheshire commissioned hospital at Home as an alternative to hospital care, when safe to do so, considering social circumstances and general health – but only if the patient believes it is right for them. A team of GPs and nurses treat a range of 'straight-forward' conditions, including pneumonia, chronic lung disease (COPD) and serious urinary tract and skin infections but not, for example, a heart attack. This multi-disciplinary team operate out of the newly refurbished part of the hospital.

This team comprises community support workers, nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. The service facilitates prompt and early supported discharges from the hospital back into the community, thus reducing the length of patient stay and preventing unnecessary hospital admissions from the accident and emergency department. These aims are met through specialist nursing and therapy assessments. If necessary, a team provides care and rehabilitation within a patient's Home for a maximum of six weeks. Individual needs are continually assessed in the patient's Home, and the level of support adjusted as the individual's independence and confidence increase. If it is identified that ongoing care is required, a referral to social services will be completed.

The Countess of Chester hospital (CoCH) is not planning to run a minor injuries clinic from the Tarporley location. The costs and resources needed to provide this service are simply not available. Minor injuries clinics are available at locations in Northwich and in Whitchurch.

The trustees have retained the services of two part-time staff, who, between them, run the Charity's ongoing operations. The roles are a mixture of finance management, legacy records management, financial reporting (the Charity is still required to produce Management and Financial accounts and report these to Companies House and the Charities Commission) and, as the Charity begins to expand its health and social care projects and builds a solid and close relationship with the COCH, these roles will increasingly help manage these relationships on the Charity's behalf.

The trust also has retained the services of a further individual who is currently helping the trust and the trustees to re-engage with the local community, seeking out new opportunities to help existing health and social care support groups operating within the local community and to raise the profile of the Charity to prepare for future fundraising activities. Gil will also be helping us to build our volunteer network as the Charity becomes more active in fundraising for specific projects and initiatives.

The trustees are now seeking opportunities to help fund local organisations providing health and social care services in the local community.

This will, of course, include providing funding for developing the facilities within Tarporley hospital to help local organisations (in conjunction with the CoCH) host activity and educational groups within the hospital itself.

We continue to be hugely grateful for the donations we receive and the support we get from the local community. As our activities increase again, we will actively fundraise to support specific projects we are undertaking.

We hope that as our activities increase, and once everyone sees the positive interventions we can make in the field of health and social care, confidence will grow, and we can continue to rely on the community's support for our fundraising activities. We also need volunteers to support our fundraising activities, our administration requirements and any events we plan in the future.

The Vintage Charity Shop plays a huge part in our fundraising initiatives and provides amazing financial support to the TWMH Trust. It also acts as a focal point in the village in communicating the developments at the hospital.

We wish to reassure all our supporters that we will not provide funding to support the NHS where we believe that funding should come from the government. We will support the development of facilities at the hospital as well as community healthcare initiatives that enhance patient care.

Our new model of Service Delivery is one where:

The TWMH Trust is here to benefit the health and wellbeing of the local community, at every stage of life. We work in partnership with others and offer funding support to enhance health and social care services, going above and beyond what the NHS provides.

There are no plans for the near future. The Rapid Response Team is one such resource that will look to provide respite care but within the person's own home. The extensive refurbishment of the hospital has resulted in the conversion of the bedrooms and wards into new clinical and treatment spaces, including a dedicated counselling room, along with rooms that will be available for use by the community.

The Countess of Chester hospital work within the Greener NHS plan set out by NHS England to encourage an environmentally friendly Hospital.

We have been actively reaching out to our community as it is one of our priorities to re-engage with as many people as possible. We have been doing this in diverse ways, through our social media, by publishing a regular newsletter, by hosting an open evening as well as welcoming everyone to our AGM.

We are also regularly active in the community and have spoken to many local groups as well as having an exhibition stand at various local events, including Tarporley carnival.

Yes. When we heard from the community about the need for more local day care services, we agreed to work with Eternity Care Services Ltd (ECS) to make this happen. ECS is now providing a dementia-friendly service at TWMH, every Thursday and Friday, from 10am to 3pm. TWMHT is subsidising the service, keeping the cost of each session to £30 per person. For further information or to book, please contact the friendly ECS team on 01829 458288 or by emailing daycare@eternitycareservices.co.uk.

The Countess of Chester hospital is actively increasing the utilisation of the hospital by increasing the range and number of NHS services on offer. Other health and social care providers, including those from the Third Sector and Voluntary Organisations are also being encouraged to use the hospital facilities. The aim is to achieve 100% occupancy.

Full details may be found on the Charity Commission website.

The current set of accounts are up to and including 31st March 2023.

The last financial year saw a new operating model for TWMH Trust; putting the Charity on a secure financial footing for the future. Trustees now expect future operating income and expenditure to be broadly balanced, having significantly reduced overheads and secured new income by leasing the building to our new strategic partner, the CoCH.

For a number of years, TWMH had been heavily reliant on its reserves to bridge a significant and persistent gap between annual operating costs and income. For that reason, and whilst still a provider of clinical services, it was necessary for TWMH to take a prudent and cautious approach when setting minimum levels of cash and reserves.

Having now partnered with a larger NHS organisation to provide clinical services at the premises, we have successfully mitigated our key risk of insolvency and we are able to prudently re-set our reserves policy at a lower level, releasing some reserves for consideration for improving and enhancing the care provided by others.

The Trust continues to benefit from the generosity of local supporters by way of donations and legacies. We also benefit from funds raised by The Vintage Charity Shop in Tarporley, which continues to be supported by local residents, volunteers and visitors alike.