Home from Hospital Service

Our partner The YOU Trust provide a home from hospital service that aims to give you a safe and timely return home from hospital if you no longer need to be in hospital but are facing barriers that are stopping you from going home.

The Home from Hospital service can be accessed short-term for a maximum of six weeks and the service is available in all Dorset hospitals including community hospitals.

This service can support you if you are brought to the emergency department and you do not need to be admitted for medical reasons but there are concerns about you returning home alone.

Volunteer Centre Dorset work in partnership with The YOU Trust to offer this service and can support you at the hospital and provide volunteers to help you at home. Both organisations are based in the discharge lounge at Dorset County Hospital.

The YOU Trust and Volunteer Centre Dorset can:

  • refer you to a one-off support grant if there is something small that could be funded to help you leave hospital. For example, a microwave to prepare meals or support with cleaning to enable carers to access the property (if necessary)

  • liaise with your landlords and housing teams if appropriate

  • support unpaid carers in respect of their own discharge needs or for the person they are caring for

    • offer you support from a volunteer (for up to 7 days) to help you with:
    • Shopping
    • Medication collection
    • Furniture moving or removal to enable space for hospital equipment
    • Welfare checks
    • Making sure the heating is working
    • Meal preparation
    • Signposting to other community support (if necessary)

Contact details

Dorset County Hospital discharge lounge – 01305 256 903

The YOU Trust

Telephone – 0330 123 2550

Email – fp.enquiries@theyoutrust.org.uk

Volunteer Centre Dorset

Telephone – 01305 269 214 Email – info@volunteeringdorset.org.uk

Community Resource Centre

Our partner Lantern Trust run a community resource centre, based in Weymouth, which provides advice and support to those who drop in. 

The service is a welcoming and accessible hub offering a range of support for people with complex needs. The service can help you if you:

  • are going through a difficult situation (to help you find services that could help you)

  • are in a crisis and need advice

  • need support with benefits and debt advice

  • need practical support to find or move house

  • need support into education, training, and employment

  • need help to improve your physical and emotional wellbeing

  • want to be supported to access your community

Lantern Trust work with you to build a support plan that helps identify what you want to achieve.

The Lantern also work with a number of other organisations who can help you, including specialists from the NHS, Housing team, domestic violence support, substance misuse support, and a whole range of other services as and when needed.

Some examples of the support Lantern Trust could help you with include:

  • Supporting you with moving into longer term housing, with sourcing practical items such as white goods and helping to set up bills

  • Linking you into groups and classes, for example arts groups or Thai chi that you interested in and that will improve your wellbeing

  • Being a person at the end of the phone to support you through challenging life circumstances, such as (but not limited to) addiction, mental health, homelessness, relationship breakdowns or financial hardship

Volunteer led response

The Community Response Volunteer service is provided by Volunteer Centre Dorset.

The Community Response Volunteers aim to support you in the community and to support volunteers.

The support they offer can include a same or next day/short-term urgent solution. Volunteers can help for example with, but is not limited to:

  • Shopping, collecting prescriptions

  • Befriending, either on the phone or in person

  • Dog walking and pet care

  • Gardening

  • Driving to and from appointments or group meetings

  • Accompanying people to social meetings, clubs or on walks

  • Basic odd jobs e.g. changing a lightbulb, moving furniture

These tasks can be provided for you either short-term or as an ongoing service.

Some examples of the support Volunteer Centre Dorset could help you with include:

  • supporting you to move furniture to a new house

  • supporting you to clear your garden if it is overgrown and unusable

  • providing support for you for a short period whilst your family go on holiday

  • supported you with looking after pets during a short-term illness or unsettled period, by offering walking and feeding services

  • helping support you to prepare and serve a meal

Volunteer Centre Dorset also administer the emergency local assistance fund which aims to support those in a crisis (including unpaid carers) with white goods, furniture or small utilities payments.

If you think Volunteer Centre Dorset could help you, please contact them on:

Telephone – 01305 269214

Email – info@volunteeringdorset.org.uk

Community Connectors Service

The Community Connectors Service is provided by our partner Help and Kindness.

The service Dorset’s Community Response looks at referrals, signpost’s, and coordinates directing you to the services that could help you.

Part of this service includes working with the service directory, which you can use to search for support in your area. It contains information about the following types of support, such as:

  • Local groups

  • Respite services

  • Practical support

  • Personal care providers

  • Community resources such as village halls

  • Church groups

  • Information about local food banks

  • Information for unpaid carers

The type of support Help and Kindness covers includes:

  • Supporting a person with bereavement into accessing a befriending service to find someone the person could talk to and feel less isolated

  • Helping a family facing financial difficulties to find white goods and food vouchers

  • Helping to link a person who was recently bereaved, to a volunteer who could help with shopping and to make sure they were accessing services they were eligible for support

If you think Help and Kindness could help you, please contact them on:

Telephone – 01305 595958

Email – hello@helpandkindness.co.uk

A Helping Hand from our Micro-providers

Dorset’s Micro-Providers Network service is run by our partner Help and Kindness.

The service can help you to find someone who can support you in your own home with a variety of different everyday tasks.

Micro-providers are either self-employed people or small local businesses (maximum eight people), offering local care and well-being services.

The micro-providers are supported by Help and Kindness to ensure they meet the “doing it right” standards and that they have the relevant documentation in place to be a provider.

A micro-provider can help:

  • support you at home

  • you with shopping

  • with domestic tasks around the home and garden

  • by offering comapinionship and befriending

  • by providing a sitting or respite service e.g. to sit with a cared for person

  • you attend social activities if you need extra support

  • provide personal care

You can speak to Help and Kindness directly by: