The Crisis Response service was the first service to ‘go live’ within the Stockport Together programme with its main objective to prevent hospital admission wherever possible. Following launch in late 2016, the team who provide the service have worked hard to achieve this objective whilst also offering the ongoing support and care required to safely maintain the patient and family at home.
The service is for adults who live independently but who, because of suffering either a medical or social crisis or carer breakdown, are at risk of a hospital admission within the next 24 hours.
Once referred, a multi-specialist health and social care team respond within two hours and work together to prevent the need to for the patient be admitted to hospital. They put in place the necessary help and support to ensure the patient can stay safely in their own home or organise a short-term stay in a residential care home until the ‘crisis’ has passed.
The service currently operates from 8am – 10pm seven days a week with plans in place to increase this to 24/7 later in 2017. The service has a truly collaborative approach and has created relationships and ways of working that span all of the Stockport Together Vanguard partner organisations. This pays dividends within the holistic assessment for the patient and family, and the team use their knowledge and community experience to continue to modify processes and introduce ever more efficient and effective ways of working.In the month of April, 93% of calls received by the Crisis Response team resulted in an acute hospital admission being avoided - enabling 217 people supported to stay in their own home.
Lisa Lainton, who manages the Crisis Response service, said: "The team have shown resilience and an absolute passion for patient care in getting this new service off the ground and it is a testament to their hard work that it has been such a success with those who have used it. They have been adaptive and inventive and clearly recognise the value of multidisciplinary working. We have a duty to offer the patient an opportunity to stay at home and be cared for without unnecessary admission to hospital and Crisis Response team members strive to make this happen.”
A Stockport family whose elderly relative was recently referred to the service, verified this saying: “The team turned up to see us within the hour…we instantly felt the benefit of a friendly and professional relationship and the service was first class in every department.”
For more information on the Crisis Response service, please contact Kathryn Baines at: [email protected]