Background to the post-acute care trial of community hospital rehabilitation for older people

The post-acute care trial of community hospitals ( PATCH) study is a multicentre, randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing outcomes of rehabilitation for older people provided in five district general hospitals (DGHs) and seven associated community hospitals (CHs) in urban and rural settings. This article describes the background to the PATCH study, compares the characteristics of the participating DGHs and CHs and describes the participating patients. Descriptions of the DGHs and CHs were produced from information obtained from each centre. Recruitment rates, patient characteristics and hospital stays were compared between centres. There was variation in operational policies of the DGHs and in the organizational features of the CHs, such that patient characteristics and lengths of hospital stay differed between centres. Statistical comparisons suggested that these differences were not systematically distributed. This underpinning study to the PATCH RCT suggests that the variation in study sites and patient characteristics is sufficient to allow generalizable statements about outcomes of CH and DGH rehabilitation care of older people.