Intermediate and Continuing Care

Intermediate care comprises strategies which allow early discharge from acute care, prevent admission or re-admission to acute care and avoid bed-blocking in both acute and long-term residential care. It encompasses a range of short-term options including rapid response, hospital at home, residential rehabilitation, supported discharge and day rehabilitation. Continuing Care is delivered on a long-term basis in a variety of settings and often includes an element of rehabilitation. Although these two types of care have distinct objectives, they are interrelated as changes in the supply of one type of care may affect demands for the other. In addition, from a patient perspe…