- Date: 13/11/2020
The Revival team have been working throughout the pandemic to make sure people are safe at home and reduce the number of people in hospitals.
It comes as reports show that Stoke-on-Trent is now seeing more than 1,000 COVID cases a week.
Hospital beds are often in high demand, but this pandemic has made it even more critical to keep people out of hospital where possible and make sure patients who are ready to leave, are able to do so quickly. Since the outbreak the team have been working hard to free up bed spaces across the region.
Our hospital discharge team have supported almost 690 people in Staffordshire get home from hospital since June . For the team, this included providing a range of support so that patients could go home safely. This includes arranging keysafes, supporting with food parcels, identifying and reducing the risk of falls, benefit checks and arranging for installation of equipment such as grab rails or furniture aids.
The tradesperson team have been working hard to make homes safe for people leaving hospital and to prevent people from falling in their homes. Since July the team have fitted 127 grab rails, toilet risers and chair risers, reducing calls to health and social care teams and valuable ambulance time.
Julie Russell, support and wellbeing manager at Revival said: “During the pandemic, we’ve had restrictions around seeing people, and that has left a lot of people being really isolated and feeling very lonely, often going long periods of time without speaking to anyone.
“Our volunteers have really stepped up and have been calling hundreds of customers for a catch up and a general chat as telephone befrienders. Just a simple phone call has really helped customers and their wellbeing during this time.”
As well as utilising existing services, Revival has adapted and successfully won new funding to run home welfare checks across Stoke and parts of Staffordshire to help reach people who need support during the pandemic. These checks include visiting people in their homes to make sure they are staying safe and well.
Julie adds: “I’m really proud of the team, they’ve really pulled out all the stops to help the community during this unprecedented time.”