dc.contributor.author | Hancock, J | |
dc.contributor.author | Matthews, JN | |
dc.contributor.author | Ukoumunne, OC | |
dc.contributor.author | Lang, I | |
dc.contributor.author | Somerfield, D | |
dc.contributor.author | Wenman, J | |
dc.contributor.author | Dickens, C | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2016-07-26T13:49:41Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016-08-31 | |
dc.description.abstract | Emergency ambulance calls represent one of the routes of emergency hospital admissions from
care homes. We aimed to describe the pattern of ambulance call rates from care homes and
identify factors predicting those homes calling for an ambulance most frequently. We obtained
data from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust on 3138 ambulance calls
relating to people aged 65 and over from care homes in the Torbay region between 1/4/12 and
31/7/13. We supplemented this with data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website
on home characteristics and outcomes of CQC inspections. We used descriptive statistics to
identify variation in ambulance call rates for residential and nursing homes and fitted negative
binomial regression models to determine if call rates were predicted by home type (nursing
versus residential), the five standards in the CQC reports, dementia care status or travel time to
hospital. One hundred and forty-six homes (119 residential and 27 nursing) were included in
the analysis. The number of calls made ranged from 1 to 99. The median number (IQR; range)
of calls per resident per year was 0.51 (0.21 to 0.89; 0.03 to 2.45). Nursing homes had a lower
call rate than residential homes (adjusted rate ratio (ARR) 0.29; 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.40 ;
p<0.001); care homes failing the quality and suitability of management standard had a lower
call rate compared to those who passed (ARR 0.67; 95% CI: 0.50 to 0.90; p=0.006); and homes
specialising in dementia had a higher call rate compared to those not specialising (ARR 1.56;
95% CI: 1.23 to 1.96; p<0.001). These findings require replication in other regions to establish
their generalisability and further investigation is required to determine the extent to which callrate
variability reflects the different needs of resident populations or differences in care home
policies and practice. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 25 (3), pp. 932-937 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1111/hsc.12381 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/22730 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Wiley | en_GB |
dc.relation.url | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hsc.12381/abstract | |
dc.rights.embargoreason | Publisher's policy. | en_GB |
dc.title | Variation in ambulance call rates for care homes in Torbay, UK | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.identifier.issn | 0966-0410 | |
dc.identifier.journal | Health and Social Care in the Community | en_GB |