Bolton Care Home Scheme Alleviates Pressure on Hospitals
Bolton care homes and the NHS have reported great successes in their joint scheme to reduce pressure on busy hospitals.
Through the pilot scheme, which took place between July and October last year, care homes were encouraged to contact Bolton NHS Foundation Trust’s Admissions Avoidance team before ambulance crews.
The scheme sought to reduce the number of unnecessary trips to the hospital in the hope that this would alleviate pressure on hospital services.
Bakewells Care Home in Deane, co-run by Councillor Andy Morgan, was one care home to benefit from the scheme, with multiple residents receiving appropriate care while avoiding trips to hospital.
Cllr Morgan, who represents Heaton, Lostock and Chew Moor on Bolton Council, said: “It’s been a very effective initiative and it’s a very reasonable idea because the more people we can make sure don’t need to go to hospital, the better.”
“We’ve had several of our residents here who haven’t needed to go to hospital because of this.”
We’ve always played our part in it, I think most care homes do, but I think they’ve really stepped it up recently because of the winter pressures on the hospital.
“We’ve had two people in our care home just this week who have benefited.”
Reducing pressure on the NHS is a huge priority
The scheme forms a part of the national UCR service, which aims to provide older people with fast access to care while taking pressure off hospital and ambulance services.
Data from the trial period in Bolton shows that more referrals were made to the Admission Avoidance Team, while fewer calls were made to North West Ambulance Service.
Moreover, significantly fewer people needed to go to Royal Bolton Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department, with figures from one care home recording a fall of 68% and a 65% reduction in the number hospital admissions.
Duncan Mayoh, Clinical Lead for Admission Avoidance at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re identifying ways of being able to ease pressure off our busy urgent care services by providing support to people out in the community, in the place they call home.
“Care homes in Bolton are now able to reach out to us directly for fast access to urgent care, where our highly-skilled team support those patients without them ever needing to step into the back of an ambulance or through the front door of our Emergency Department.
“If care home staff have concerns and think someone needs admission to hospital then they should contact us.
“This is a local health system working together and at its best by reaching patients before their conditions worsen, ensure they’re receiving excellent care quickly and safely, and freeing up much-needed capacity in other areas.”
Now, the Trust is hoping to replicate the initiative across more care homes in Bolton by offering support and working as a system to ensure patients get the best care possible in the place they feel most at home.
