Stockport Council is considering plans to reform patient care in a bid to ease pressure on hospital services. 

The new 'Home First' strategy aims to send more people home after hospital treatment, rather than occupying beds in care units and rehab centres - and hopes to see a new healthcare facility opened next year. 

Plans for a new model of care come as figures reveal over 20 percent of Stockport's population is now aged 65 or over, amounting to over 60,500 people in the borough. 

They also warn that the current costs for care services far outweigh current investment, and that care partners should do what they can to deliver the best value for money. 

Under the current system, known as the Integrated Care Model, older patients leaving hospital are split into four categories based on their individual support needs. 

Patients on Pathway Zero are sent home needing no additional help, while those on Pathway One may return home with some extra assistance, such as therapy or social support. 

Patients on Pathway Two need more support than those on Pathways Zero and One. After being discharged, they are sent to community facilities for further treatment before being sent home or moved into long-term care. 

Finally, those on Pathway Three are considered the most severe, and are typically sent for long-term, 24-hour care after being discharged from hospital. 

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 The Integrated Care Model is used in hospitals across England and Wales, and has been used in Stockport for several years. 

It was designed by Professor John Bolton OBE, who has continued to assess health and social care between the NHS and local authorities for over 15 years. 

Presenting research in Stockport early last year, Bolton shared his latest recommendations for the number of older people who should be discharged from each pathway every year. 

The figures showed Stockport performed well above the national average, but said it should aim to move more patients from Pathway Two to Pathway One – meaning more people should be sent home with additional support than sent to short-term homes. 

Following the review, Stockport Council has now tabled plans for its new 'Home First' model, which will see more investment in health and social care to get patients well enough to go home sooner. 

The plans include the creation of a new community health facility, St. Thomas' Centre for Living Well, which will provide short-term recovery care to patients leaving hospital. 

The centre will be staffed by therapists, nurses, social workers, and other primary support and care staff, and is expected to open in early 2027. 

Elsewhere, the council also hopes to increase access to GPs and pharmacies over the weekend, as well as see more provision for home equipment and therapy for patients. 

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Speaking at the ONE Stockport Health and Care Locality Board this week, Stockport Council's director of social care Sarah Dillon showed optimism for the Home First strategy. 

"This has been a system-wide partnership approach to being clear about our intermediate care strategy going forward in Stockport," she said. 

"It moves us towards a proactive, preventative, and focused approach rooted in our neighbourhoods, and it prioritises early intervention, recovery at home wherever possible, and reduced reliance on bed-based care. This is what we need due to rising levels of frailty, dementia, and falls in Stockport. 

"We need to move to a system that supports independence and reduces hospital demand." 

The next step for the Home First strategy will be to create an implementation plan, overseen by both partners and local people. 

A condensed version of the strategy will be published soon.  

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