New mobile x-ray service in Plymouth launching

It's part of big care at home plan

A new mobile x-ray service in Plymouth is expected to prevent thousands of patients having unnecessary stays in hospital.

The service, which has been trialled in Cornwall, will go live in the city on Friday 1 November so patients can receive care away without going to Derriford.

The ‘One Plan’ by the Healthy Lives Partnership is a collaboration between University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and community healthcare and social care provider Livewell Southwest and is being implemented this winter.

It includes 125 ‘virtual ward beds’ which allow patients to get hospital-level care safely at home and in familiar surroundings, helping speed up recovery while freeing up hospital beds for patients who need them most.

More than 2,000 people over 55 attended the emergency department at Derriford last year after falling and were found not to have fractures.

Almost 1,300 of them came by ambulance with 1,000 admitted to hospital.

Typically these patients stayed 13 or14 days, when many could be treated in the community, the Plymouth City Council’s health and adult social care scrutiny panel was told.

In April, following an unannounced visit by CQC inspectors during one of the hospital’s five ‘critical incidents’ this year, Derriford received a warning from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about overcrowding at its emergency department.

NHS data in January also showed that patients arriving by ambulance at the hospital faced the longest handover delays in England.

Nearly 80 per cent of patients at hospitals in Plymouth waited longer than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E staff between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve last year, a process that should only take 15 minutes.

Rachel O’ Conner, director of integrated care and partnerships at the trust, told councillors that Plymouth had dropped to third in the table of worst performing hospitals.

“September was challenging and we didn’t quite reach the ambulance handover position we wanted to, but we have seen around 30 per reduction in ambulance hold waiting times,” she said.

“We are aiming absolutely to reduce the holds to below the 15 minutes standard and there has been a significant improvement already. We have had some excellent days, but want to stabilise that.”

She said the £10 million One Plan is about reinvesting and repurposing existing resources to save money and provide community services.

This was in light of a report about the NHS by Lord Darzi which highlighted the need to invest more in community care and reduce the amount spent on hospitals.

She said it is a different approach for Plymouth and a culture change for staff, and the number of people being supported at home has more than doubled.

Eighty-four ‘virtual ward beds’ will be open by winter and the remaining 40 beds available by end of March.

Patients on a such ward are often frail and receive daily reviews by clinical teams., who can check devices such as blood pressure monitors or other data using apps. The ‘ward round’ may involve home visits or take place over video. Intravenous therapy can also be carried out at home.