Up to 80% of North East Essex patients get urgent treatment without hospital admission through new NHS scheme.

More people are able to have urgent treatment at home without the need to be admitted to accident and emergency departments thanks to a new programme in North East Essex.

Three clinicians from the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) are ‘co-located’ with Urgent Care Response teams from East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust to help patients quickly without the need for them to go to hospital.

The three advanced paramedics can prescribe and administer drugs such as antibiotics and anti-inflammatories on the spot and carry out other procedures that the Urgent Care Response service would not be able to complete alone.

This allows the team – based in Clacton -  to help patients who otherwise might need to be attended by an ambulance - freeing resources to attend patients with life-threatening illnesses or trauma – and supporting GPs and district nurses to get urgent care for non-critical patients.

The service is being provided by EEAST with Urgent Care Response Service teams from East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust. The team has a non-conveyance (to hospital) rate of 80% - meaning that the vast majority of patients are treated at home or in the community.

Pete Bumphrey, EEAST Business and Partnerships Lead, said:
“This collaborative approach to patient care within the community means our advanced paramedics complement the community teams, enhancing care closer to home and giving the patient more choices. This is an example of how NHS can work together to provide the best possible care for its patients and we look forward to seeing how this service grows.”

Kelly Carrington is the clinical operations matron for East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust for the Integrated Urgent Crisis Response Service (IUCRS) - and said the benefits of co–locating and joint working have already been seen.

 She said: “The IUCRS team see the opportunities in sharing their knowledge and developing and enhancing their own knowledge and skills by joint visiting, bouncing ideas together, and having the ability to find out more information to improve the patients journey whilst supporting our community.“ 

Jane Taylor, Transformation Lead for Urgent & Emergency Care for Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board said: “The co-location of the paramedic team and IUCRS is an excellent opportunity for integrated urgent care to operate at a community level, enabling the skills and knowledge of the teams to blend, and ultimately caring for people at home.”