NHS strike action – message of reassurance
As you will have seen in recent weeks, the Royal College of Nursing announced that they are going to go on strike with strikes taking place on the 15th and 20th December. Further, and wider, industrial action on 21st and 28th December 2022 by the ambulance service.
For Johnnie Johnson Housing customers who use services from Astraline we want to offer some information on how Astraline has prepared for this challenge, what impact this strike action may have on the service and a message of reassurance that your calls will be answered.
Calls made by Astraline operators to emergency services can take up to 15 minutes to get through to log a call. This has a subsequent and sustained impact on our Astraline operator time and availability for other calls. This will increase not only on the proposed industrial action days, but throughout the winter months as demands on the NHS increase.
People needing assistance for non-injury falls can experience up to 18 hours delay, waiting for an ambulance to attend. We see this set to continue as none emergency calls may not be responded to, especially during the days of industrial action. Where Astraline are waiting for an ambulance to attend, and where we have identified a customer who is on their own with no next of kin able to attend, our procedure is that we carry out check calls every thirty minutes to monitor any deterioration. We anticipate this will increase significantly in line with delays in ambulance attendance rates.
What are Astraline doing?
- Increasing the frequency of our check/deterioration calls for those customers that are waiting for an ambulance to attend, and who are on their own with no next of kin
- Ensuring that customers and next of kin are aware of the delays beyond our control
- Implementing the TSA Triaging Toolkit which ensures that we find the most appropriate help, which may not always be an ambulance e.g., GP, community services, 111
- Ensuring that we have the right cover in the right place to manage busy periods
Astraline is there for you for emergencies to help get the support you need, especially over the Christmas period. You may however experience some delays at particularly busy times. We want to reassure you that your calls will be answered.
If you are not an Astraline customer and would like to find out more about the service they offer visit: Personal Alarm Service | Astraline