A SERVICE which could cut the number of people going to accident and emergency is being under-used, it is claimed.

The Oxfordshire County Council-funded reablement service – supporting patients to live in their own homes – is missing its target by 25 per cent, a council report said.

In it, the local authority’s director of adult services, John Jackson, said if more people being treated in the community were referred – especially by their GPs – it would help reduce emergency admissions to hospital.

Huge pressure on A&E has led to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust struggling to hit waiting-time targets.

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But Mr Jackson added if enough people did start using the service there still might not be the staff to accommodate them all.

He said: “Ensuring sufficient staff to deliver the care would be a challenge with the high level of employment in Oxfordshire and the known workforce challenges in the health and social care sector”.

The report also said in other areas the service had met its targets, and 100 per cent of patients surveyed said they were likely to recommend the service to friends and family.

The local authority awarded the reablement contract to Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust in 2011, which will run it until September next year.

In the 12 months to September 2014, 2,820 people received the service – 1,955 of who had been in hospital and 865 patients already being treated in their own homes.

The Department of Health target for a total of 3,750 to use the service and for half of those to come from hospitals and half from the community.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said the patient feedback on the reablement service is positive, but it was disappointing more people were not referred.

He said: “We need to know why hospitals and GPs are not referring the numbers expected, and to improve the take-up, because this is vital both for patients’ recovery and to cut the number of people in hospital or at A&E who don’t need to be there.”

In October this year the Oxford Mail reported that the reablement service is one of the ways the NHS hoped to eliminate bed-blocking in Oxfordshire within two years.

In June 2012 it was reported that the service had 47 staff vacancies out of 110 full and part-time jobs.

In the report Mr Jackson said: “Reablement is a short and intensive service, usually delivered in the home, which is offered to people with disabilities and those who are frail or recovering from an illness or injury.

“The effectiveness of the reablement service is good – about 55 per cent of people going through the reablement service need no care at the end and of the rest some have reduced care needs.

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