Keeping patients out of hospital by treating them in the community

The Integrated Community Reablement and Assessment Service (ICRAS) is a 24 hours a day, seven days per week service run by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The ICRAS team consists of general medical practitioners, advanced practitioners, pharmacists, nursing staff, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, podiatrists, dietitians, assistant practitioners, and health care assistants. 

This multidisciplinary team work together to manage the care of:

• People in the community requiring support of an urgent nature and who are at risk of imminent hospital admission
• Those transferring out of a hospital environment but requiring additional community support.

ICRAS provides high-quality nursing and therapy treatment or interventions for people in their permanent home or a temporary place of residence. The service also provides some inpatient Intermediate Care beds in Hub Rehabilitation Units across Liverpool, as well as community services across Liverpool and South Sefton.

Through early intervention, the team are able to reduce the incidence of hospital readmission providing an evidence-based approach to clinical practice and improved patient care.

The service is a key part of Mersey Care’s plans to help keep patients out of hospital and in the community wherever possible, and over the Christmas and New Year period alone (2023/24), the ICRAS service helped to discharge over 200 patients from hospitals to improve patient flow and reduce system pressures.

You can watch this short animation to find out more about what the ICRAS team does: