Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

Intermediate care services are provided to people, usually older people, after leaving hospital or when they are at risk of being sent to hospital. Intermediate care:
- Helps people to avoid going into hospital or residential care unnecessarily
- Helps people to be as independent as possible after a stay in hospital
- Can be provided in different places (e.g. community hospital, care home or in people�s own homes)
[Source: NHS Benchmarking (2015) in Intermediate Care � SCIE Highlights No 1 � July 2017]

Intermediate care is a set of services and interventions organised through health and social care organisations to support people proactively in their own homes, or in a community bed-based facilities, and provide structured support on discharge from hospital. It comprises short-term, multidisciplinary services that provide support to people who have been in hospital or who are at risk of hospital admission. Intermediate care helps people to recover or rehabilitate at home and is underpinned by the Home First principle that the vast majority of people recover best at home. Intermediate care helps people to be as independent as possible after a stay in hospital, or a crisis in the community, and helps people to avoid people going into hospital or residential care unnecessarily. Intermediate care services are sometimes known as �step down� or �step up� services and can be provided in different places (e.g., people�s own home, care home, community hospital).