“A beam of joy,” that is how a Cambridge pensioner has described the under-threat JET service that keeps people out of hospital. Nina Lavroukine will meet Daniel Zeichner MP as they throw their full support behind the campaign to save the vital service this Friday.

Arbury resident Nina was involved a car crash. She was quickly discharged following the accident but was in so much pain and short of breath that she called the out-of-hours GP. Ordinarily it would have been straight back to hospital for Nina but instead the JET team was called in.

The 45 strong JET team is an urgent two or four-hour response service which supports pensioners alongside their GP to keep them out of hospital.

The Cambridge MP will find out about the treatment and care Nina received which improved her health, confidence and mobility and crucially kept her out of hospital.

Daniel Zeichner MP said:

“This is just one example of how JET improve people’s lives. Nina was afraid about going into hospital but thanks to JET she didn’t need to. It also saves taxpayers’ money in the long-term by cutting down on the days patients spend in hospital beds.”

Shockingly, the CCG’s own figures say that scrapping JET will mean that five more vulnerable older people will visit A&E every day.

After a postponement two weeks ago, Cambridge and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) will meet on 16 July to decide if the axe will fall on JET.

Daniel Zeichner MP, who has called for the decision to be paused to allow for a proper public consultation, continued: “This is a big change and deserves proper scrutiny. I do not see the need for a two-week rush.”

“All efforts should be focussed on keeping people out of hospitals. Of course at the root of the problem is Conservative government underfunding of our National Health Service but these cuts are especially short-sighted as they will put more pressure on already stretched services.”