Home help for respiratory patients recognised

The East of England Ambulance Service has won a prestigious innovations award for preventing unnecessary hospital admissions by providing respiratory patients with specially targeted care in their own homes across Suffolk.

On Wednesday, September 22, the trust attended the 2010 Innovation Competition organised by Health Enterprise East (HEE), the NHS Innovation Hub for the East of England. The evening was held at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. The COPD admissions avoidance scheme has been recently introduced to ensure that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are quickly given access to care in the most appropriate place to meet their needs.

The trust is working in partnership with their colleagues from Suffolk COPD Services. This partnership has seen the two organizations develop new care pathways so that, where appropriate, ambulance clinicians answering 999 calls now refer patients to colleagues within the COPD service, who will provide expert care in the person's own home.

Clinical operations manager, Matt Broad said: "We have been working very closely with our colleagues at Suffolk COPD Services to bring forward this innovative project, and are delighted that patients are now benefiting as a result. To win this award is very special and I must thank my colleagues for all their help and support getting this initiative up and running."
"The new service uses the assessment skills of ambulance staff to identify patients who have called 999 but are suitable for treatment from a specialist nurse in their own home. As well as helping reduce needless admissions into Ipswich and West Suffolk Hospitals, this also brings benefits to patients by ensuring they are treated in the most appropriate setting to meet their needs."

The trusts Medical Director Pam Crispin added: "It would be good to see this model
rolled out across other parts of the region, and indeed nationally."