Progress Lifeline helps ease pressure on ambulance services
Posted on: 25/10/2019Progress Lifeline along with North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), the Health & Social Care Commissioners of Lancashire County Council and the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups have been working on a new pilot to create an improved service for patients who fall but are uninjured - freeing up valuable ambulance resources to attend to life-threatening calls.
From 1st Oct Progress Lifeline in partnership with NWAS – will be assisting people who have fallen and are uninjured and do not need medical attention, but need help getting back on their feet. This means reducing the need for an emergency ambulance response.
Progress Lifeline has been providing an assisted lifting service to their telecare customers since 2013 and has helped over 12,700 people already. They usually attend a customer in around 34 minutes, (of help being requested) which is quicker than the average wait for a lower priority ambulance.
Loraine Simpson, Progress Lifeline Service Director, said “We are proud to be working with the local authority, NWAS and NHS partners as part of this innovative new service. We have an ageing population and an increasing demand for help with uninjured falls. We recognise the importance of getting people who have fallen off the floor quickly, and the best way to do this isn’t always by an ambulance crew.”
She continues, “We have a highly trained team who specialise responding to people who have fallen at home. It makes sense to let us do this and leave the ambulances and paramedics to focus on high-risk priority call-outs.”
Cllr Graham Gooch, Lancashire County Council Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said:
“We know that ultimately people want to stay in their own home and remain as independent as possible. This great service will give more families the confidence for their relative to continue to live independently, knowing there will be someone on hand to help them if they have a fall.
“It is fantastic news that this is being rolled out across the whole of Lancashire to benefit our residents.”
So how will the service work? Once the Progress Lifeline Response service receives the call from NWAS, they will deploy a member of their team to the patient to check and lift if uninjured. If there are signs of an injury the Responder Service will contact NWAS directly to ask for an ambulance response.
There are clear escalation processes in place between the Progress Lifeline Response Services and NWAS which explains when and how to request emergency ambulance help if the need arises and to ensure the highest patient care is followed.
The new service will help improve patient services and make the best use of precious NWAS resources.
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