Establishing a 24/7 acute primary care visiting service Improving primary urgent care

The case for change delivering the 4 hour waiting time in A&E contribute to save 25% admissions to hospital deemed unnecessary North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) estimate 40% of all 999 calls can be more appropriately managed outside of A&E Support for NWAS to achieve the Category A target of 75% - (8 minutes from call to attendance) adding support to primary care so they can focus on proactive support

Opportunities…. A well established, high quality out of hours primary care service staffed by local GPS NWAS Pathfinder scheme -trained paramedics select from alternate pathways for patient care additional resource as part of the ‘winter monies’ well established urgent care group of health and social care partners and clear plans for improvement

What we did…. pilot an extension of out of hours service to cover 24/7 and provide an acute visiting service (AVS) AVS provide a 2 hour response time to NWAS pathfinders, some care homes and GP practices during surgery time utilising winter pressures money to increase capacity in the Out of Hours service monitor improvements against and agreed set of objectives

The difference we have made…. in the first 6 weeks 128 people were cared for at home instead of being taken to hospital more than 95% of people attending A&E were seen in 4 hours or less during the winter months care planning supports patients and GPs working together, care will feel more joined up and tailored to need care NWAS Category A performance improved

Next steps and future plans the service will continue for the next 12 months, expand to support complex discharge from hospital additional evaluation on patients still at home after 30 days ensure the users of the service have ample opportunity to comment on and shape future services