Cambs scheme allows more patients to be treated at home

Hospital teams in Cambridge have started a 10-day ‘breaking the cycle’ campaign this week, all aimed at reducing unnecessary attendances and admissions to hospital.

Our Cambridgeshire crews will already be aware of the Joint Emergency Team (JET) programme, run by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, which provides a two-hour response service for urgent but non life-threatening conditions for the over 50s.

Now three days in, ‘breaking the cycle’ aims to maximise the use of JET and community services as alternatives to conveying patients to Addenbrookes. Healthcare professionals, like our crews, can call the JET helpline to access a range of community services for their patient, which instead allows them to be treated at home.

Accessed on 0300 123 9996, the helpline can be used for things like:

• falls
• water infections
• new or acute wounds
• very bad sprains and strains
• minor head injuries
• mild to moderate breathing problems, e.g. chest infections
• severe diarrhoea or vomiting.

If the patient’s condition doesn’t meet JET visit criteria, an alternative community service or team will be called.

Tracy Dowling, Chief Officer at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Getting the links between EEAST teams and community services is vital, so we want to assess how many referrals ambulance crews make to the teams over the 10 days – and what the outcomes are for those patients.

“As well as helping us to build trust and establish more community based pathways, it will allow us to assess development needs for JET and other neighbourhood community services. All of these things, in partnership between lots of organisations, will hopefully have a significant impact on conveyance rates and mean more people can be treated at home.”

Want to know more? Visit the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust website.

Published 8th June, 2016