Tuesday 19 November

Some of Connexus' services may be disrupted today due to the snow, making access to some of our more rural areas difficult. We will still try and attend pre-booked appointments if we can but will be prioritising emergencies. If we cannot attend an appointment, we will be getting in touch with customers to rearrange an alternative appointment.

For emergency repairs call: 03332 31 32 33

Sandpits Surgery: Tonight’s drop-in surgery in Ludlow for Sandpits customers is postponed due to the weather conditions. We will be in touch with customers with an alternative date and time.

Falls Responder Service

Giving you and your relatives peace of mind

The Falls Responder Service is a 3-way partnership between Connexus, Herefordshire Council, and the Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group helping individuals who may have fallen in their homes. Alongside this, the service helps to take some pressure off the already strained resources of the NHS, primarily through reducing the number of ambulance call-outs.

The Falls Responder Service provides a non-clinical, mobile rapid response for non-injured fallers, and those in imminent danger of falling, to assist them up or make them safe from the danger of a fall.

95% of responses reach the faller within 25 minutes of the alert

Who is the service available to and when?

The Falls Responder Service is available to all adults over the age of 18 years, in their place of residence, who are living in the Herefordshire area.

The service operates round the clock: 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How does the service work?

Requests for Falls Service Team assistance come via individuals activating their emergency pendant alarms, local health professionals, NHS 111/999, or carers and paramedics
Any calls for assistance are handled through the helpful Doro Call Centre Service and West Midlands Ambulance Service
Our Falls Responder will then attend the incident, assess the situation including how the faller is and the lifting method needed. With the permission of the faller, our Falls Responder will then safely lift the faller using the correct method and make them as comfortable as possible
Our Falls Responder then completes a detailed assessment of the incident with input from both the faller and anyone else who may have been present
To help prevent any further falls, Our Falls Responder will then minimise or remove any potential hazards e.g. clearing floor spaces of boxes to prevents trips, or cleaning up spillages to prevent slips
Throughout attending the call-out, our friendly Falls Responder will support and reassure the faller, keeping them calm and as comfortable as possible. The relevant next-of-kin will be contacted, along with carers, and we will notify them if they are required to attend the home of the faller

Follow up

Our Administration Team follows up each attendance within 24 hours via telephone call, checks on the current welfare of the faller and discusses appropriate support which can be put in place to prevent a similar incident occurring again.

With consent, our Administrator will make a referral to any relevant support on behalf of the faller, acting as the gateway to other partners within the falls prevention service.

Practical information and advice are provided to the faller and their families to prevent repeat falls. Those who are at risk or have suffered repeat falls can be signposted to our Falls Care Navigator Service.

Falls Care Navigator Service - find out more here

To find out more about our Falls Responder Service

If you are a Health Care professional referring to the service, you can do so through 999/111 or through their lifeline alarm.

Falls Care Navigator Service

The Falls Care Navigator Service is a new initiative in Herefordshire dedicated to supporting frequent fallers, connecting them with community support groups and other support resources in the area.

Find out more here

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