Effective rehabilitation for older people.

THE ESHUN-SMITH model explains the care given to older patients when they are admitted to Holcot ward, Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. Holcot ward is a rehabilitation ward within the hospital’s new elderly care centre. The model was developed five years ago on Cavell ward by the author and the ward’s co-manager Sue Smithon. It was used as the basis of nursing practice for more than four years before patients on that ward transferred to the new purpose-built centre. Although initially designed for a pre-discharge ward, the principles and values that underpin it can be applied to almost any nursing environment. The Eshun-Smith model spans all aspects of patient care, including the assessment of the individual’s needs on admission, the setting of care goals and the planning, implementation and evaluation of care. The emphasis of the model is to encourage patients to perform for themselves those activities of living that are considered critical or essential. These are the activities that everyone has to be able to perform if they are going to be able to live successfully on their own, or at least cope safely, when they are finally discharged home from hospital.