Patients saved trip to A&E by new service

Almost 2,000 patients, mostly from Telford & Wrekin, have been treated in the comfort of their own home by specially trained paramedics without needing to be taken to A&E.

Last year, the NHS Telford and Wrekin Primary Care Trust funded four paramedics with West Midlands Ambulance Service to undergo six months of additional training in new skills and procedures to become emergency care practitioners (ECPs).

Since going "live" in November last year, Jenny Sears-Brown, Julian Porter, Carl Pockett and Jamie Roberts have seen about 2,300 patients of which 77.5 per cent have avoided going to Accident and Emergency.

"Our job is to go to the patients' homes and give them the best health care there," said Jenny. "Our purpose is to keep ambulance crews and A&E beds free for those patients who really need them, those with serious illness or injury."

An elderly woman who had a fall at home is a good example of how the system works.

She had banged her head on a radiator and didn't want to go to hospital.

An ECP went to her home, her wound was stitched up and follow-up care was arranged. Had she gone to A&E, she would have had the same treatment, but it would have been hours before she was home again.

The majority of patients seen by ECPs have been in Telford & Wrekin but they have also treated some in neighbouring areas.