Falls, especially when it involves the elderly and vulnerable, need to be managed with care to ensure a speedy recovery.
Oldham’s Urgent Care and Response Team (UCRT) are piloting a fall pick up programme that sees them work in collaboration with the Northwest Ambulance Services (NWAS) to provide immediate care to patients that have taken a fall at home.
Patients that are categorised as low risk and no harm by NWAS as a result of their fall are referred to UCRT as a first point of contact.
Stacey Debio, Lead Nurse for Oldham Community Urgent Care said: “The pilot is proving to be a huge success in responding timely to patients allowing for the quick assessment of their condition. Lifting patients correctly after a fall is critical to prevent further injuries.
“The programme is a shining example of how we work in partnership with our NHS colleagues to ensure that our patients receive help as quickly and efficiently as possible. When a falls patient is referred to us by NWAS, we aim to arrive at their home in one hour and assess if care can be provided at home instead of a hospital stay.
“The introduction of the service has reduced the waiting time for patients and has been successful in easing the pressure on our ambulance service allowing them to attend those life threatening calls with speed.”
The falls pick up service was commissioned to support NWAS through a period of high demand and reliance on ambulance call outs. In Oldham, this service has been funded alongside the Urgent Care response team to allow patient the safety net of a clinical assessment to aid decision making around lifting from the floor and stepping down ambulance calls.
The falls pick-up service is available 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm.