Falls Support for Care Homes
MET Medical's falls support for care homes is a vital service aimed at ensuring the safety and well-being of elderly residents. Falls are a significant risk for individuals living in care homes, often leading to serious injuries and complications A fracture of the hip (usually referred to as a neck of femur fracti. MET Medical recognises this challenge and offers tailored solutions to prevent falls and minimise their impact.
Care staff are not usually qualified to determine whether or not an elderly person who has fallen is injured. Those who are elderly or frail often have more brittle bones and therefore are at higher risk of fractures. Historically, Care homes call 999 and request an emergency ambulance for every patient who has fallen. However, our public health services are facing challenging times. A fall is usually graded as a category 3 call. The national target for ambulances to attend Cat 3’s, which are for urgent but not immediately life-threatening conditions, is 120 minutes in 9/10 cases. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for patients to be waiting over 12 hours for an urgent ambulance. This is due to the high volume of life-threatening emergencies versus the capacity of ambulances available.
MET Medical recognises that if a loved one is on the floor in pain, waiting 12 hours or more is not going to be good for their health or wellbeing. As such, MET offers urgent ambulances staffed by technicians or paramedics who are experienced in attending to 999 calls. Staff are trained to carry out a proper medical assessment to recognise injuries such as cervical spine fractures, which, if mismanaged, could cause paralysis; and to get patients off the floor. Over 50% of falls result in bumps and bruises, and patients can be assisted back to a chair or bed and left with worsening advice. However, some patients may need to be conveyed to hospital, and our double-crewed ambulance is able to transport patients onwards to either the nearest Accident & Emergency Department or if preferred, to a private hospital that accepts urgent care patients such as those located in London