Our HIU Project based in Essex working across the Mid and South of the county including Southend and Thurrock supports people that have multiple support needs and have a history of frequent A&E presentations or hospital admissions due to their alcohol use.
The project is built on the success of our Horizons project which delivers intensive and targeted support to small cohorts of people, based on collaboration working with multi- disciplinary teams across the County. The HIU project focuses on:
- A client centred rather approach.
- Persistent engagement with intensive and unwavering support
- Consistent multi-disciplinary engagement with other agencies
A dedicated specialist Senior Practitioner works with around 10-15 people across Mid/South Essex Hospitals - Broomfield, Basildon & Southend. The programme has seen some very positive outcomes over the first year of operation. A quarter of the clients on the programme had reduced their A & E admissions by 90% and a after two months of referral there was still a reduction of 84%.
"By working intensively with my HIU clients, some fantastic outcomes of success have been achieved , and in some cases in a short space of time. I am passionate about recovery myself, which was a perfect match for this new exciting role…
Some of my clients are now training to be peer mentors, of whom had high numbers of hospital appearances previously due to alcohol use . I love seeing their journey of recovery progress, its makes all the hard work worth it !
I feel i have achieved these great outcomes by being able to have regular contact with my clients, meeting face to face regularly makes a huge difference. Having lived experience of alcohol addiction myself and sharing parts of my own journey , I truly believe this made a huge difference to my clients. I understand them better than anyone, having been there before… "
Martyn Davies, Senior Alcohol HIU Coordinator
Another success of the program has been establishing a pathway into the local community rehab programme. Given the multiple needs the individuals under the project are initially presenting with, for them to be successfully accessing the intensive and on-going support a community rehab can offer illustrates the success of this model of care.
To read the full impact report please click here.
To find out more about the project or how we can support you to deliver this support in your area please contact Head of Operations for Essex, Melanie Pellicci – [javascript protected email address]
