Nurse-led intermediate care: patients' perceptions

Intermediate care currently forms one of the UK Government's main initiatives for improving the quality of postacute care. This paper examines patients' and carers' experiences of a nurse-led unit, which aims to provide intermediate care for people no longer acutely ill. Drawing on findings from qualitative interview data, we demonstrate that patients viewed this model of care as acceptable but that they had markedly inconsistent experiences of care and reported considerable variation in their perceptions of the Unit's purpose. Some possible reasons for this are explored. Implications for the development of good quality nurse-led intermediate care are outlined. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.