Member Article

Family-run Harrogate company works with region’s ambulance service

Harrogate-based Yorkshire Care Equipment has supplied Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) with over 50 Raizer emergency lifting chairs that are now being used by first responders, falls teams and care homes in the Sheffield area.

YAS and NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have started a project in the city that aims to get people who have fallen back on their feet as soon as possible. The Raizer chairs are part of this joint project which provides staff with appropriate lifting equipment and focuses on residents having an improved experience. The results will be shared with other ambulance services, some of which are also trialling the equipment.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service responds to nearly 800,000 emergencies every year with around 10% of these related to people who have fallen. Many of these calls come from care homes where staff are either physically unable to lift the person back to their feet or are unable to do so because of lack of training and access to appropriate equipment.

Karen Owens, Director of Urgent Care and Integration at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said:

“Feedback from the care home staff and residents in the project described the Raizer chair as something which will help staff move people safely and with dignity and will give staff the confidence to assess injury prior to making the decision to moving someone.

“We very much appreciate the collaborative working and funding provided by the CCG on this project.”

The Raizer is completely unique from other falls lifting products because it only takes one carer to operate it. In turn, this saves money and time for care staff. Steve Ellis, Yorkshire Care’s Raizer Specialist, said:

“When we worked with YAS last year, we knew that the Raizer could make a real difference to the level of care they were providing. Even when I’ve carried out training with their staff, you can see how much more confident the staff feel when they know they have a device that will genuinely improve the quality of care they provide.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucie Hudson .