A squad of Health and social care workers are in training to help Southend Hospital battle through the busy winter period.

The workers are being drafted in to help keep as many hospital beds as possible free for those who most need them over the coming months.

They will help to treat patients in the comfort of their own homes.

The new £119,000 care project has been jointly funded by South Essex Health Authority and Southend social services.

Members of the Southend Integrated Link Team, Silt, will be wearing distinctive uniforms of red tops and black trousers and will include community nurses and therapists, each with their own professional focus.

Other preventative measures to ease winter pressures on Southend Hospital include a new community respiratory nursing team for people with breathing problems, and an extended deep vein thrombosis service to provide more outpatient care.

The hospital has also set up a new 24-hour bed management bureau, a new departure lounge where patients ready to leave can sit instead of waiting by their bed, and the appointment of another pharmacists to improve the time patients have to wait for the medicines they need to take home with them.

Other measures include a dedicated discharge ambulance, a new hospital discharge co-ordinator, more "step-down" beds in selected nursing homes for patients who have left hospital and an occupational therapist in accident and emergency to assess whether patients can be sent home.

Ready for action - the new Silt or "red tops" team established to help cope with any winter problems

Picture: MIKE NEVILLE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.