Independent living provider Welbeing has stepped in to help people home from hospital as the NHS struggles to keep up with winter demand.
Welbeing provides well-known red pendants for elderly and vulnerable people which are monitored round-the-clock and automatically raise an alarm if help is required, for example in the event of a fall.
The organisation is working with the British Red Cross which is helping to transport patients from hospital back to their homes in Shropshire, freeing up much-needed hospital beds.
Steve Smith, Welbeing’s CEO, said: “Our staff have been assisting the British Red Cross and ambulances service in making people are secure and safe when they are taken home after a stay in hospital.
“Hospitals, and emergency departments in particular, are under extreme pressure at this time so we are doing what we can to ease the strain on NHS services.”
This comes after Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Road Cross, said last week that hospitals and ambulance services across the country were facing a ‘humanitarian crisis’.
Mr Smith continued: “Health and social care are experiencing very real challenges as budgets have been cut to unrealistically low levels. It is imperative that more money is invested, particularly into care services for the elderly and disabled, so that local authorities can properly fund social care services.”
Welbeing supports over 70,000 people living in private and public sector homes across the country through a wide range of telecare services. These allow the person to continue living independently in their own home without the need for a carer, friend or family member to be present all the time.