Rehabilitation and reablement

Rehabilitation and reablement is available to you if:

• you are 18 or over and are a resident of Southwark
• you are in hospital or at home and require support to:
  • help recover from illness or injury at home so that you do not go into hospital unless you really need to
  • settle back into living in your home if you have recently left hospital
  • improve functionality, remain independent, safe and well at home and prevent the need for you to require longer term care

Rehabilitation and reablement is support provided by specially trained staff over a short time in your home. The staff will work with you to improve your confidence and increase your ability to do your day-to-day tasks yourself (for example washing or cooking).

How rehabilitation and reablement could help you

A support worker, occupational therapist, physiotherapist or social worker will work with you to think about how you can regain your confidence and independence by:

• building on what you can do already
• working out with you what needs to happen to achieve what you want to achieve (your goal/s), for example to be able to have a bath

We will regularly ask you what skills you want to improve on and how. This is to make sure we're assisting you in the right way to help you to continue to live in your home independently.

How to get rehabilitation and reablement support?

The hospital discharge team can refer you for rehabilitation and reablement support, or you can request an assessment under the Care Act. You can also be referred by other teams within Adult Social Care.

How long will the rehabilitation and reablement last?

Rehabilitation and reablement support lasts up to six weeks. It may end before this time if:

• you've achieved what you wanted to achieve (your goal/s); for example to cook for yourself
• you're not doing what is needed to achieve your goal/s or
• we can't help your particular condition with rehabilitation and reablement support

If you need support after 6 weeks of rehabilitation and reablement, we will assess your needs under the Care Act 2014. You can find assessment of your eligibility here. This will tell us whether you are entitled to further support from adult social care.

Paying for rehabilitation and reablement

Rehabilitation and reablement services are free for up to six weeks. If you already have a care package, we can provide additional support on top of your already assessed care needs to prevent you needing to pay for more care after the rehabilitation and reablement support has ended.

Page last updated: 18 May 2022