Adult Community Health Services
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) provides adult community healthcare services in west Hertfordshire. This includes community nursing, therapy and specialist services for adults who are registered with a GP in our area.
CLCH is an NHS organisation that provides community health services to more than two million people across eleven London boroughs and Hertfordshire.
About the service
The service provides healthcare in people's homes and local clinics in each of the four locality areas in west Hertfordshire. Integrated Nursing and Therapy Teams provide most of patients’ ongoing care and support in their own homes.
The Integrated Nursing and Therapy Teams operate seven days a week from 8am to 8pm with twilight and night nurses providing care from 8pm to 8am
The service includes the following specialist areas:
- Adult Speech and Language Therapy
- Bladder and Bowel
- Cardiology
- Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Neuro-rehabilitation
- Podiatry (foot health)*
- Lymphoedema
- Specialist Palliative Care
- Stroke Early Supported Discharge
- Tissue Viability
- Domiciliary Phlebotomy
- Leg Ulcer
*This excludes podiatry for people with diabetes which is part of the Hertfordshire Integrated Diabetes Service.
The focus of the service is on providing healthcare in the community that helps people maintain their independence. It does this by helping people to stay well, manage their own health with the right support and providing healthcare that helps to avoid unnecessary trips to or long stays in hospital.
CLCH works with local GPs, hospitals, mental health services, ambulance services, social care, hospices and voluntary sector organisations to make sure that people get the care and support they need. The service takes a lead on coordinating care for patients with complex, long term health conditions. It sets up multi-disciplinary team meetings so that various health and care professionals get together to plan and provide people’s care in a joined-up way.
Community Beds (including Neuro / Stroke)
The service provides a number of community beds. These support patients’ rehabilitation and recovery to reduce the time people spend in hospital and help them back home as quickly as possible. Most patients are ‘stepped down’ into community beds as part of a supported discharge from hospital. In some cases community beds can be used as part of a rapid care response to avoid people being admitted to hospital.
There are a number of bedded units as follows:
- Langley House, Watford (Holy Well Neuro/Stroke beds and Midway Ward)
- Hemel Hempstead Hospital (St Peters Ward)
- Potters Bar Hospital (Oakmere Ward)
All run a 24/7 service with nurses on hand at all times and therapists available from 9am to 5pm each day. Units also have access to medical support and are supported by a wider team of care staff and voluntary sector workers.
Clinics
The service provides a number of clinics as shown in the table below.
| Bladder and Bowel | Community Frailty | Chronic Heart Failure | Leg UIcer | Lymphoedema | Podiatry | Speech and Language Therapy | Tissue Viability | Neuro Rehab | ||
| Dacorum | Hemel Hempstead Hospital | l | l | |||||||
| Marlowes Health and Wellbeing Centre | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | |||
| Gossoms End Health Centre | l | l | l | l | ||||||
| Watford and Three Rivers | Watford General Hospital | l | ||||||||
| Langley House | l | l | ||||||||
| The Avenue | l | l | l | l | l | l | ||||
| Skidmore Way | l | l | l | l | l | |||||
| Bridgewater Surgeries | l | |||||||||
| Meriden Surgery | l | |||||||||
| St Albans and Harpenden | St Albans City Hospital | l | l | l | l | l | l | |||
| St Albans Civic Centre | l | |||||||||
| Harpenden Memorial Hospital | l | l | l | |||||||
| Davenport Surgery | l | |||||||||
| Grove House | l | |||||||||
| Hertsmere | Potters Bar Community Hospital | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | |
| Elstree Way Clinic | l | l | l | l | l |
Accessing the service
People access adult community health services in different ways according to which service they are receiving but in general patients are referred into the service from other health or care services. This can include:
-
GPs
-
District nurses
-
Hospitals
-
Ambulance service
-
Nursing or residential care homes
-
Social workers
-
Hospices
-
Voluntary services
Contacting the service
If you have any questions or concerns about west Hertfordshire adult community health services detailed above contact Central London Community Trust Patient and Liaison Service (PALS).
- Telephone: 0800 368 0412
- Email: clchpals@nhs.net
Further information
For further about adult community health services in west Hertfordshire visit the CLCH website