'Winter Pressures' funding is changing lives

In the Winter of 2018-19 Nottingham City Council gave us funding to deliver a Winter Pressures project.

The project enabled us to offer our support to people who weren’t funded by social care packages. They had funded access to our equipment and services for six months. This was available if they needed help to get their independence back, for example following discharge from hospital.

Winter Pressures funding helped people to manage safely and independently at home with no, or minimal social care support. In addition, it enabled some people who had been discharged from hospital. This made sure patients could go home earlier and get back to living their day-to-day life.

In 2018-19 we supported 160 people thanks to Winter Pressures funding. We have helped the Council’s social care service and the NHS to save on the cost of a service and delayed discharge from hospital. We have also been able to improve the lives of people across Nottingham.

How does it work?

Without the personal care alarm and monitoring service the Council and NHS would not have been able to help as many people get back on their feet, with minimal service interventions.

Once these customers got towards the end of their six months package, we spoke to them about extending their support. They are able to do this with us for as little as £4.35 per week. In some cases, after six months their health has improved, and they no longer need support.

Since last year’s Winter Pressures project, 70% of the people who were supported have signed up to continue to use the service.

Antony Dixon, Head of Nottingham on Call, said: “We hope that our support through the Winter Pressures project will have made the difference. We’re delighted so many of these customers have decided to continue to access our support. This is a real testament to the impact we are having in communities across Nottingham .”