Residents in Stone and across Staffordshire who have a fall or need help returning home from hospital will continue to be supported by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service after funding for two schemes was extended.
The Falls Response Service aims to reduce ambulance waits and hospital stays by responding to residents who have fallen but have not suffered injuries. The Home from Hospital service assists the NHS in discharging patients from Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Both schemes started as three month pilots but have continued after proving successful.
At this month’s Fire and Rescue Public Performance Meeting, Glynn Luznyj, who will become Chief Fire Officer next month, said the Integrated Care Board had agreed to extend funding for the Falls Response Service for another eight months, taking it to at least November 2026.
Funding for the Home from Hospital service has been extended by 10 months, taking it to at least January 2027.
Mr Luznyj said
“That gives us some surety that for at least the near term we can continue to provide those services which are undoubtedly both saving lives, promoting better health outcomes and taking pressure off the NHS, which I think everybody would recognise is an added benefit.”
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams, who asked for an update on future funding of the services, said
“I was delighted to hear that, I was a bit nervous about asking the question because it matters to people this extra value service. All credit to the ICB.”
The Falls Response Service went live in December 2022 and has provided a service every day since. There have been 3,489 mobilisations so far, a report to the meeting said.
Mr Adams said
“That’s close to three a day, that’s not infrequent. That’s definitely saving time in hospital, people being on the floor getting hypothermia.
“On the Home from Hospital team, we’re on 4,700 since December 2023. These are really successful interventions, getting right into the sharp end with health colleagues.”
The report said 94% of patients supported by the Falls Response team were over 60. The team responds across the whole county of Staffordshire and has an average attendance time of under 38 minutes. Each job takes an average of 67 minutes to complete.
For the Home from Hospital service, 95% of patients supported were over 60, which the report said is a risk factor associated with fire and allows crews to carry out a Home Fire Safety Visit.
Since the role expanded in July 2024, the team has completed 1,031 key safe installations, 249 furniture move jobs and 33 property inspections. The service is now completing between six and seven jobs per day on average.
