Specialist advisors appointed to 999 calls in bid to cut Sussex hospital overcrowding
Clinical hubs in Brighton and Polegate will link up healthcare teams to stop unnecessary A&E visits
A new scheme's hoped to cut the number of unnecessary hospital admissions in Sussex.
The so-called 'clinical hubs' will connect teams from different healthcare departments to make sure 999 callers are getting the right care quicker, cutting the amount who are taken to A&E.
The Brighton hub is expected to begin operations this week, while the Polegate hub is expected to go live next week.
The hubs build on successful trials conducted in Kent and Medway over the past year, which have helped arrange appropriate care for patients, avoiding thousands of unnecessary emergency department attendances.
A feasibility period over the coming months will test and evaluate the new hubs.
SECAmb Operating Unit Manager for East Sussex, Richard Harker, said:
“I am pleased that we will soon be operating a hub from Polegate and that local people will start to benefit from us bringing multiple disciplines together to ensure our patients are being assessed and treated in the most appropriate place for their condition.
The approach should also free up ambulance crews to respond to the most seriously ill and injured patients and reduce demand on emergency departments.”
Dr James Ramsay, Chief Medical Officer at NHS Sussex, said "high quality and safe" care is “our absolute priority":
"We are confident that a greater number of people will be assessed and treated in the most appropriate place for their condition as these two new hubs open.
“Through the collaboration across health services – ambulance, hospital, and community – we will be able to better assess people’s healthcare needs and ensure that they receive the best possible care, avoiding being admitted to hospital if they can be best supported at home or in the community.
“As we collectively work to improve access for people to urgent and emergency care, this is a positive step forward in delivering our agreed five-year strategy for health and care services in Sussex – Improving Lives Together – for our population.”