As we move on into the colder winter months of 2024, the Healthy Lives Partnership is deeply involved in one of the aims of our One Plan to enable patients to receive appropriate care away from the hospital setting. The x-ray car pilot is part of a programme of work supporting alternative pathways to admission, and is a key segment of our winter plan this year and last week we took a special delivery…
We recently announced the brilliant news in bringing an X-Ray car pilot service to Plymouth after a successful pilot had been coordinated in Cornwall. A few weeks back, we took delivery of the car that will be going out and about in Plymouth and the surrounding areas to offer support to patients who have fallen at home or in other community areas. The pilot will support our focus to enable people to remain independent for longer and demonstrate how we can transition our care pathways to support a home first approach.
“We’re really excited to get this service underway, and know that it is the best thing for our patients,” said Anne Hicks, Associate Medical Director for Integrated Care Pathways. “We are really pleased at what this service will offer from a patient perspective. Having had a fall or to injure yourself at home, and then access the appropriate help, and get the diagnosis and the treatment plan in the comfort of your own home or community place of care – that’s what this service is all about.”
To put the impact into context, last year, over 2000 patients over the age of 55 attended the Emergency Department at UHP and were found not to have a fracture. Nearly 1,300 of those patients came by ambulance with 1,000 of those patients admitted into the hospital. It is calculated that the x-ray car service will save around 14,000 bed days, a welcome difference to the impact of winter on our local NHS.
The x-ray car will be a vital addition to services for people who fall in the community. It is predicted the service will benefit around 3 to 5 patients a day in the early stages of the pilot, which will be going live shortly – news which we will bring you as soon as this happens.
Anne Hicks, Associate Medical Director for Integrated Care Pathways talks about the benefits of the x-ray car:
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