Author: Martin Driver

From Tuesday 21st April 2020, there are two additional Sefton sites where referrers and family members can pick up community medical equipment that has been ordered for people being discharged from hospital.

This is in response to Hospital Discharge Guidance from the Government on COVID 19.

These new satellite sites, at Hugh Baird College in Bootle and the Community Equipment Shop Unit in Southport, will be in addition to the existing access points at Southport and Formby and Aintree Hospitals.

From Tuesday, minor aids such as walking frames and small items that do not have to be installed and fitted, can be picked up, from:

• Reception at Hugh Baird College Balliol Road site L20 7EW between 11am and 2 pm, Monday to Friday .
• The Community Equipment Shop, Unit 1, Cambridge Arcade, Southport PR9 1DA (next door to Southport Town Hall) between 11 am and 3pm, Monday to Friday .

Care professionals and Sefton residents needing to access items needed for people who are being discharged from hospital, and who need ongoing support, can access community equipment at the point of hospital discharge at Aintree Hospital and at Southport and Formby Hospitals. Additionally, they can go directly to the Community Equipment Stores, 2c Bechers Drive, Aintree Racecourse Retail and Business Park, Ormskirk Road, L9 5AY.

If they are registered service users:

• District Nurses
• Hospital Discharge Planners
• Occupational Therapy teams (LA and Health) & HSC Children’s Physio Therapists
• Physio Assistants
• Respiratory nurses

can order equipment via the ELMS, the Equipment Loans Management System.

There is guidance on how equipment can be ordered and accessed on the ELMS home page and the location for the collection of equipment can be selected at time of placing orders.  Directions for each location are also be available from the ELMS ordering system.

Visit the ELMS website.

If equipment is being collected from the Community Equipment Stores it will be available to collect on the same day as placing the order.  If equipment is being collected from the two satellite locations it will be ready for collection the next day from 11am.

Anyone with further enquires or requiring assistance should please contact the Community Equipment Stores directly on 0151 288 6208.

Telecare equipment

Telecare is a service that provides care and reassurance to the elderly and vulnerable, allowing them to live independently in their own home for longer. Sefton Arc’s technology can provide wireless motion sensors, personal alarm pendants and movement monitoring sensors – ensuring safety in the home, medical dispensers (with consent of pharmacist), and bed and chair occupancy sensors.

Telecare equipment can also detect environmental changes such as floor, fire or carbon monoxide. Sensors will automatically raise an alarm at our monitoring centre where our trained personnel will determine the appropriate course of action.

Telecare Equipment is accessed via referral to Sefton Arc Telecare Team, using LAS referral process or self-referral.

Sefton Arc Trusted Assessors will contact the client and their families to discuss appropriate equipment options and equipment is then ordered.

Falls Pendants and Arc Angels can be arranged within 24 hours of ordering.

Other items of equipment can take between 3 and -7 working days depending upon supplier availability, from the day the order is submitted.

People can email Telecare Services at Lifeline.Service@sefton.gov.uk or call them on 0800 622 6107. The contact address is 209 Linacre Lane, Bootle, Merseyside L20 6AD.

Partners across Merseyside have a clear message to share with victims of domestic abuse during lockdown – #YouAreNotAlone.

Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral Councils, working with Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and health partners, want to make sure people are aware of the help and support that is available.

With the country still in lockdown and many residents self-isolating whilst juggling work demands, financial issues, home schooling and childcare, the strain and pressures at home for everyone can be quite intense. That’s even more so for victims of domestic abuse, where home may not be a necessarily safe place.

Merseyside Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Serena Kennedy and Chair of the Strategic Coordinating Group of the Merseyside Resilience Forum said: “It’s a challenging time for everyone at the moment but the situation is far worse for those people who feel trapped, isolated, controlled or feel like they are walking on egg shells all of the time.

The important thing is that we want everyone across our region to know that you don’t need to suffer in silence. Help and support is just a phone call or click away and there are choices and options you can make. You are not alone.”

Local communities can pledge their support to the campaign by sharing the messages with their friends and families and through social media. Some people are specifically sharing a photo of a heart on their palm, demonstrating that victims are not alone.

Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing said: “It is vital that we let people who are silently suffering or concerned for their safety during this period of isolation and social-distancing know they are not alone and that people in their communities care about them and are looking out for them.

“I fully support this coordinated campaign to make sure that people have as much access as possible to ways of finding help, support and advice and would urge people across Sefton get behind the #YouAreNotAlone campaign.”

If anyone needs support, call the freephone, 24 hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline number – 0808 2000 247 – run by Refuge. Remember in an emergency situation, ring 999 and if you are unable to speak when the operator answers, press 55 and the operator will transfer your call to the relevant police force.

Further information is also available at www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk.

Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing has spoken out to reassure local people in the aftermath of two recent murders and a shooting in Sefton.

Detectives are investigating two murders, which saw 18-year-old, Kyle Whitley killed after being stabbed in the chest on Vincent Road, in Litherland, on Easter Monday, 20-year-old Michael Rainsford shot dead in his kitchen on April 7^th, as wel as incident where shots were fired at Rimrose Hope Primary School in Seaforth on Easter Sunday.

A 17-year-old arrested after Kyle’s murder is being questioned by police.

Cllr Hardy said: “We know the majority of residents living in Sefton are proud of where they live and won’t stand for serious crime on their doorstep.

“These are shocking incidents in our community and devastating for the families of those victims, at such an unsettled time for everyone.

“I want to reassure our residents that Sefton Council is working closely with Merseyside Police to support our communities and I would urge anyone with information about the incidents to contact Merseyside Police or Crime Stoppers”.

“We are committed to reducing and preventing crime and anti-social behaviour right across the borough in order to make our thriving communities even safer.

“As part of our collaborative approach to protect our communities, it’s important that we work closely with our partners, including Merseyside Police, to reduce crime in Sefton.”

People can contact Merseyside Police by calling 101 or by using the online reporting form.

Crimestoppers, a charity which is independent of police, on 0800 555 111. More about Crimestoppers.

Merseyside Police’s Sefton Area Commander Superintendent Graeme Robson said: “I hope those living in Sefton can find some reassurance knowing arrests have been made in connection with both of these tragic murders, and those arrested remain under investigation. Our policing activity will continue in the coming weeks to ensure government guidelines are being adhered to, our communities have the confidence to speak openly with us and the public are not being plagued with those intent on causing fear in our communities.

“I particularly want to assure those living in Litherland, Seaforth and the wider Sefton area that we will continue to target those we suspect are involved in serious and organised crime. We’re in the area today carrying our extensive enquiries in relation to the stabbing yesterday, and will continue to carry out warrants, seizures and arrests.

“Vital to this activity as always is people who live locally and know what is behind these incidents. To those staying at home or still out and about, working and making essential journeys, keep telling us what you know and we will keep sharing these positive results.”