Integrated Care

Patients may spend some time in Cork University Hospital for urgent or high level care, but often their journey through the health service begins and ends outside the walls of the hospital. Therefore, we rely heavily on good relationships with our GP colleagues and with the many Community services that seek to support patients at home, or as close to home as possible. Generally our goal is to enable patients to return to at least a level of activity and health that they had before they became ill, and to return them to a level of independence where they are confident and safe to go about their daily lives.

Many services can be accessed through your GP, including Community hubs that can provide support for people with long term diseases, like diabetes, heart failure, and lung disease. Once your treatment in hospital is done, there are times when your medical team might recommend you have some rehabilitation or some additional treatments that don’t need to happen in the hospital setting. This may mean that you will need to live for a short while in a Community facility to help you transition back to home. Or it may mean that you would be best served by considering a longer term living arrangement in a Community Nursing Home. We have staff on site that can help with these arrangements, and we work closely with our Community colleagues to do what we can to represent your wishes.