Progress Lifeline - Margaret and Peter's Story

Margaret and her husband Peter joined Progress Lifeline to support Peter, who has dementia.

When Margaret called 999 to request an ambulance after discovering Peter had fallen in their living room, the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) control room triaged the call. Although Peter was uninjured, the operator established that he could not get up, even with Margaret's assistance. The situation met NWAS's criteria for referral to Progress Lifeline's assistive lifting service. NWAS called Progress Lifeline's 24/7 alarm response centre and passed the details to one of the operators, who immediately deployed one of our emergency home responders.

Our Progress Lifeline responder arrived on site 30 minutes later to assess the situation, reassuring both Margaret and Peter. The operator completed an injury assessment to make sure Peter was uninjured. She then used a specialist lifting chair called a 'Raizer chair' to lift him from off the floor securely.

Once Peter was comfortable, the responder called the NWAS clinical hub to confirm she had lifted Peter and update them on his well-being. The responder left the couple with a leaflet, providing information on avoiding future falls, and sent a referral to the local falls prevention service.

Margaret said, 'The lady who came was absolutely brilliant to me and my husband. She was very easy to talk to and was just lovely. The equipment is marvellous and fascinating, the whole experience was lovely.'

Joanne Bushell Head of Progress Lifeline said, 'Since going live on the 1 October 2019 Progress Lifeline in partnership with North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), the Health and Social Care Commissioners of Lancashire County Council and the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups have worked together to create an improved service for patients who fall but are uninjured throughout the whole of Lancashire.

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) triages the calls. If a fall patient is uninjured and does not need medical attention, they request Progress Lifeline's assistive lifting service. This innovative and collaborative working between local organisations means reducing the need for an emergency ambulance response freeing up valuable ambulance resources to attend to life-threatening calls.

Joining forces with each other ultimately provides a better service to patients and clients who need immediate help whilst also supporting the NHS so they can respond to critical emergency care in the community.

The average time for our responders to arrive on-site is just 27 minutes.'

*Names changed