Care provider targets over a million visits in January, to aid government promise to cut NHS wait times

In the government priority announcement this week, Rishi Sunak focused on the issues facing the NHS - and A&E in particular - as patients fit to be discharged remain in hospital beds across the country. The Prime Minister noted the importance of extending telemedicine and helping patients access better data to inform decisions - to deliver high-quality, responsive healthcare for generations to come.

Leading home healthcare provider Cera is today announcing a commitment to deliver over one million visits in January, to more than 20,000 patients per day. With around two million visits made to A&E departments in England each month, Cera has the scale to make a real impact in relieving pressure from the wider health service and enable more people to receive safe, effective care from the comfort of home.

As Europe’s largest provider of digital-first home healthcare, Cera is already equivalent in capacity to 50 NHS hospitals, working with numerous NHS Integrated Care Systems and Local Authorities nationwide to deliver care, nursing, telehealth and repeat prescriptions. 

During a visit from Cera’s team of carers and nurses, a patient’s symptoms and health data are collected via the Cera App, which data analytics uses to predict deterioration in conditions 30x faster than traditional methods and can anticipate up to 80% of hospitalisations seven days in advance. This machine learning triggers earlier health interventions to prevent people from becoming unwell. It has been proven to reduce hospitalisation rates by an unprecedented 52%, keeping more beds free across the NHS.

Last month, Cera launched its rapid discharge service in the Midlands, Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Merseyside, in advance of a national rollout. This service enables c.80% of patients who can be discharged from the hospital to be seen on the same day by Cera carers or nurses, by digitising the matching of the right carer or nurse with a patient faster and driving efficiencies through electronic scheduling.*

Dr Ben Maruthappu MBE, CEO and Co-founder of Cera, comments: “In Wednesday’s announcement, the Prime Minister outlined the NHS’s wait times and the need to discharge people out of hospitals and into social care as one of the nation’s biggest priorities. Healthcare services are now required to do more with less, with demands increasing alongside an ageing population that requires more complex care, battling lengthy waiting lists across hospitals, and sector-wide struggles with staff burnout.

“Through its technology-powered model, I am proud to announce that Cera will be in a position to provide over a million care visits this month, to help more patients leave hospital and relieve pressure on the NHS. Using machine learning and data analytics, Cera offers a care solution that does more with less and keeps patients safely at home through predictive technology. Moving healthcare services from the hospital to the home reduces the cost of healthcare ten-fold - the cost-effective solution the country needs.”