Northamptonshire health recovery scheme wins award
A new scheme which aims to get patients home from hospital as quickly as possible and with the right support has won two health awards.
The project Think Home First brings together Northamptonshire County Council, the county's NHS and Kettering and Northampton hospitals.
The scheme has won two awards in the Health and Social Care Awards 2010.
It won the Success in Partnership Working award and the Putting Patients and the Public First award.
The scheme sees the organisations work closely together to ensure that patients get the appropriate support to allow them to be discharged from hospital.
The project means that an integrated team made up of representatives from the NHS, hospitals and the county council are all involved in the discharge process.
It also provides extra support to help people leave hospital, such as providing a care worker to support them at home.
Robin Brown, county council cabinet member for health, said: "Our main aim is to ensure that when patients are discharged from hospital it is done quickly, safely and with the care and support they need."