London Ambulance Service paramedics are working with community nurses from Sutton Health and Care to respond to 999 calls from elderly people who have fallen at home.
The dedicated teams are going to see frail, elderly people who have fallen, with the aim of keeping them at home if, for example, they haven’t had a serious fall resulting in a broken bone. This will help to avoid unnecessary hospital admission which may not always be the best option for these patients. The community nurse will assess the patient’s house to make sure it’s safe and then refer the patient to their GP and an urgent community response team.
Daniel Elkeles, Chief Executive of LAS told the Times recently that his paramedic teams see a lot of patients who, if something else were available, wouldn’t need to go to hospital. Daniel said: “As the population has got older and frailer, it’s unsurprising that we are being called out to see an increasing number of older patients and automatically taking them to hospital with a potential hospital admission at the end of it isn’t always what’s best for them.”
As the population has got older and frailer, it’s unsurprising that we are being called out to see an increasing number of older patients and automatically taking them to hospital with a potential hospital admission at the end of it isn’t always what’s best for them.
Daniel Elkeles, Chief Executive of LAS
The new pilot service will have three cars covering six boroughs in south west London, with the aim of having the service available from 8am-8pm every day. In the first four weeks of the pilot, the community response teams were able to treat 300 people at home, in each case avoiding an ambulance being called and a trip to hospital. This equates to around 60 per cent of patients getting the right care at home and is freeing up hundreds of ambulances to respond to life-threatening emergencies.
Pippa Macey, Operations Manager from 2-Hour Urgent Community Response, Sutton Health and Care said: “Our pilot scheme in south west London sees experienced paramedics and community nurses responding together to care for elderly and frail patients who need our help. The clinicians will treat the patient at home and, where possible, avoid an unnecessary trip to hospital.”
Our pilot scheme in south west London sees experienced paramedics and community nurses responding together to care for elderly and frail patients who need our help. The clinicians will treat the patient at home and, where possible, avoid an unnecessary trip to hospital.
Pippa Macey, Operations Manager from 2-Hour Urgent Community Response, Sutton Health and Care