People who regularly use urgent and emergency healthcare services where social needs are contributing to those attendances. The support addresses key issues around challenges with housing, drug or alcohol use, mental and physical health needs, help with managing money, volunteering or employment and providing improved social networks and relationships. The team will also refer and engage people in more accessible health and community services.
Adults aged 18 and over who have had 12 or more contacts with urgent healthcare services (including A&E, ambulance, walk-in centres, out of hours GPs) in the last year or 5 within the last month. People can be referred either as part of a weekly data referral spreadsheet from Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust or as a completed referral form from specific health organisations.
The Barca Outreach Support Team (BOST) provides specific support to people who are having frequent contact with urgent and emergency healthcare services.
Funded by West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust, the team started in 2015 and continues to work with people across the city to address some of the psychosocial reasons why someone may frequently use urgent and emergency healthcare services, such as A&E and the ambulance service. BOST helps individuals to reduce their use of urgent care services and to use more accessible and appropriate support for their individual needs.
The project has previously been nominated for the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Community Healthcare of the Year award and was shortlisted by the Health Service Journal Partnership for the Best Not-for-Profit Working in Partnership with the NHS.
There are a number of reasons why people may have a high volume of contact with urgent and emergency healthcare services; these can include physical, psychological and social factors. Not all contacts with urgent care services require medical support or admission to hospital; often the reasons for such frequent use can be socially determined.
The Health and Community Navigators work with individuals to address key psychosocial issues. This could include challenges with housing, drug or alcohol use, mental and physical health, finances, and volunteering and employment, as well as offering support to improve social networks and relationships. It is important that people who regularly use urgent healthcare services feel that they are supported and not stigmatised for being in a healthcare setting. BOST work collaboratively with a number of services and will refer and engage the people they support with more accessible health and community teams. This model has shown significant positive results in its previous years’ work with Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust, for both the people supported by BOST and the hospital.
Our team includes skilled and experienced Health & Community Navigators and a Lead Practitioner.
Everyone in this service carries identification and has undergone appropriate safeguarding checks. Please find our privacy policy below for more information on our specific safeguarding practices for this service.
People who meet all of the above criteria can be referred to the project by contacting the team’s secure email address to request a copy of the referral form.
Please note that due to a high demand for support from the Barca Outreach Support Team, referrals are prioritised from the Emergency Department and Yorkshire Ambulance Service for people with a current high volume of urgent healthcare contact. Appropriate referrals from other professionals will be added to the waiting list and offered support when the team has capacity.
For more information about the service please email Sarah Collin.
