Stifling statistics in the news tell a story of not just financial cuts (£1.7 billion), but of the plight of ‘hundreds of thousands’ of our elderly.
The numbers of elderly individuals using the A&E department has increased by more than 100,000 in the last year. The cause may be a fall, a stroke, an infection for example – currently, they are treated initially and often admitted to wards. This adds undue pressure to the wards/staff and much upset for the patient.
In the cases where admission / sustained-admission is not required, there is a solution. This solution has been piloted with Lincoln County Hospital and has become a huge success.
The solution
PACT is about getting those over the age of 50 back home from Lincoln County Hospital as quickly as is safely possible. For most of the nearly 500 people helped in the pilot so far, it means that a visit to A&E results in a return home instead of admission onto a ward.
The service is said to save the hospital costs of £350 per person per night, £48,000 per month, that’s £175,00 to date, around half a million pounds per year, per hospital.
“The pilot was necessary for us to trial and test the model – it works! Our patient feedback forms and the numbers prove it. We hope now to help other Lincolnshire hospitals integrate this service into their A&E departments. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the UK take Lincolnshires lead with this National crisis.”
Trixie Bennett, CEO of Adults Supporting Adults
We’ve had some great client feedback and and are just beginning to achieve recognition from key media such as the Guardian (watch out for us w/c June 17th).
“This service is available to the people of Lincoln to help to get them home following treatment in hospital. The NHS does what it does well and we are then handing over people to our PACT experts to do the next bit of care following the hospital saying they are well enough to go home. We know that people, once better, want to be at home and families want to know their loved ones are safe. We are very proud of this service and look forward to many more people receiving this care”.
Chris Slavin, CEO of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
