Firecrewstake 191 patients back home
‘Home from hospital’ service eases pressures on NHS
FIRE Service staff have helped hundreds of people get back up after a fall as well as assisting dozens of patients to get home from hospital.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Falls Response Service aims to cut ambulance waits and hospital stays by responding to callers who have fallen but who have not suffered any injuries.
The scheme proved so successful last year that funding was extended for another six months.
The team also started a pilot scheme in December to assist the NHS in discharging patients from Royal Stoke University Hospital during the busy winter period.
Now a report presented to the latest Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting revealed the response team, currently based at fire stations in Newcastle and Lichfield, had helped to discharge 63 patients across Stoke-ontrent and Staffordshire during December.
It added: “It provides a discharge and settle-in service for patients identified by the Integrated
Discharge Hub and is currently operating from various wards of the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
“The team will attend the hospital on request and take a patient home and settle them in, ensuring they have access to all requirements to keep them safe, eg electricity, heat, food etc, and will carry out safety checks including a Safe and Well check. The team also have the capability to transport patients in wheelchairs.”
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams, left, told the panel: “The home from hospital pilot has been running since December 4. The latest on that is 191 times the fire service has helped somebody get home from hospital and only one readmission.
“That’s really helping the NHS to handle winter pressures.
“The falls response service has been out to nearly 1,000 people in about 14 months – it’s tremendously successful. I’m very hopeful that the falls response provision will continue, but that’s subject to negotiation.”
Councillor Charlotte Atkins said: “I see that 85 per cent of the fall incidents did not require further back-up from the NHS, which is great. But for those 15 per cent where it might not be sensible to move the individual, are we ensuring there is proper training to make sure that someone is not moved, because they’ve got a broken hip or something like that?
“My second question is, given that the fire service is working much more with the NHS, what is the situation at the moment in terms of defibrillators on fire service vehicles?”
The panel was told defibrillators were now on all front-line appliances. Mr Adams added: “The team involved with the falls response are trained to FREC (First Response Emergency Care) Level 3 trauma and they’ve all had additional training around equipment, safeguarding and data protection before they take on the job.
“None of these tasks go straight to the fire service for a request for assistance without being triaged by the ambulance service.
“My guess is with the 85 per cent picked up with no injuries, five per cent in addition to that are picked up before the falls team even get there. That 90 per cent are probably absolutely chuffed that somebody has got them back into a good position.”