The North West NHS is on track to roll out a new service, which will ensure anyone over the age of 18 will have access to a community crisis response within two hours in their own home or community setting, if their health suddenly deteriorates, or they are in in crisis.

This will include individuals with underlying chronic conditions, at risk of hospital attendance or admission, with the aim of supporting their health needs ‘at home’ by multi-disciplinary teams responding quickly to changes in their condition, negating the need for an admission to hospital or having to travel to a GP Practice.

Once referred to the service people will be triaged and have a short assessment to establish what support is needed, and where required a member of the team will be deployed within two hours.

Sheena Hennell is the Urgent Emergency Care Senior Transformation Programme Manager for the North West Region and is one of the leads for the development of the service.

She said: “We’re working to ensure that the service is available to everyone across the region from April 2022.  The idea of the service is to support the person to stay in their own home and to avoid unnecessary visits to Emergency Departments.

“Attending hospital can often incur long waiting times and cause unnecessary distress for people who would be more appropriately treated in their own home.  It will also help reduce the number of people who have to attend Emergency Departments when they can receive the right care in the right place (i.e. home first) at the right time.”

NHS teams have been working to establish full geographical coverage and currently all areas now have a level of service available.  The aim is to make sure that this is available seven days a week, between the hours of 8am – 8pm by the beginning of April.

Early indications show that patient experience has improved, there are faster response times, and access to treatment for people who need it, and people are supported to remain in their own homes.

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For further information please contact the NHS England and NHS Improvement – North West media team on england.nwmedia@nhs.net.