A&E patients get treated at home

The scheme is expected to halve the number of A&E hospital admissions

People in Shropshire who require accident and emergency treatment could now be treated by paramedics at home.

Four West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics have been given extra training in nursing and A&E to treat people without taking them to hospital.

The university training was funded by Telford and Wrekin Primary Care Trust to help its patients.

The emergency care practitioners have seen 86 people since starting work on 3 November, the ambulance service said.

Home care

Jamie Roberts, Julian Porter, Jennie Sears-Brown and Carl Pockett underwent training to become emergency care practitioners (ECPs.)

Mr Pockett said: "Our purpose is to keep ambulance crews and A&E beds free for those patients who really need them."

He added: "We will carry with us a variety of drugs and treatments to be able to treat patients in the care of their own homes, if appropriate."

Where necessary, or specifically requested, patients would still be taken to hospital, he added.

'Fewer people'

The scheme is a first for Telford and Wrekin, however Coventry and Warwickshire piloted the idea in 2005 and have about 50 ECPs, an ambulance spokesman said.

There are also thought to be eight ECPs for Hereford and Worcester, he added.

He said approximately half as many people had been taken to hospital in the other areas where ECPs had been introduced and he expected to see the same happen in Telford and Wrekin.