More patients in Norfolk are getting urgent care in their own home reducing the need for them to go to hospital, according to new figures.
NHS Norfolk and Waveney says the new scheme ensured 90 per cent of people helped by it did not need to be admitted.
It is called the Single Point Of Access and gives access to expert help for East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) staff.
By making a phone call, they can:
- Get expert medical advice on the care and treatment options for someone.
- Receive advice about medication including access to different drugs.
- Book people into a Virtual Ward where they can be monitored, assessed by medical staff and have drugs administered at home where appropriate.
Providing it is right for the patient, this means they can stay there rather than go to accident and emergency.
Pete Bumphrey, Business & Partnerships Lead for the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST), said: “It’s another conversation that our clinicians can have to be certain about what is the best way to treat a patient, and the doctors are working from the same location as the urgent community care services are based, so they can make decisions about capacity based on real-time information.”
The idea has come from a department in the county called the Unscheduled Care Co-Ordination Hub, or UCCH. It has now been running for a year and sees people from different health and care providers working together to find the best care for patients in Norfolk.
It says in its first 12 months, it has helped 10,000 people and prevented more than 7500 unnecessary ambulance call-outs.
How does it work?
If people call 999, 111, community care, or primary care like a GP practice, they can be referred to UCCH to help them get the most suitable care they need.
This referral will also eventually be expanded to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn too.
This work has been recently highlighted by the Urgent Health UK Awards, with IC24 which operates the 111 service being announced as a finalist in the Partnerships category.
Ross Collett, Director of Urgent and Emergency Care for NHS Norfolk and Waveney, said: “This system collaboration is about joining up different parts of our NHS from the ambulance service, NHS 111, GP Out of Hours service, community services and our hospitals to ensure patients receive the right care, right place and right time.
“It leads to more direct referrals to the care people need, quality treatment in people’s own homes without the need to be admitted to hospital and overall improved patient health outcomes.
“It will also allow ambulance crews, working alongside their other NHS colleagues, to treat patients quicker so that they can get back out on the road and help other patients who require emergency care.”
Background
The service is available 8am-8pm 7 days a week and 90% of patients treated through the Single Point of Access scheme in the two-month trial avoided being admitted to hospital – 6% more than the national average.
IC24 host the hub at their call centre at Reed House on Broadland Business Park outside Norwich with local clinicians from lots of different services working together to use their expertise to help patients referred into the UCCH.
Dan Hubbard, Interim Director Integrated Urgent Care for IC24, said: “The co-location of clinical teams has been brilliant in supporting quicker decisions allowing patients to receive the right care in the right place.
“The colder winter months will see a rise in illness across our population, which increases demand on our health and care services. This clinical collaboration will support avoiding unnecessary admissions and enable care to be delivered at home through early access to senior clinical support and the multi-disciplinary team within the Care coordination hub.”
