Partner agency safe and well visit referrals

Working with partner agencies to keep people safe and well.

By working with other agencies we can help people to live safer, more independent lives – whether they are living with frailty, dementia, mental health concerns, a disability or old age.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service has an excellent record in prevention, and is viewed by the public as a ‘trusted’ organisation.  As a result of the success of home safety visits, as part of the national Fire as a Health Asset programme, visits were rebranded as ‘Safe and Well’ and include conversations where there are shared risk factors between fire and health.

What is a safe and well visit?

A typical FREE visit takes around 45 minutes and currently includes:

• Engaging with people to understand their lifestyle, behaviours and motivations
• Highlighting any risks from fire to the home owner
• Advising them on how to reduce those risks and encouraging safer behaviours
• Fitting smoke alarms where necessary
• Providing specialist equipment where necessary (e.g. fire proof blankets, deaf alarms etc.)
• Identifying and reducing risk of trips and falls
• Screening and making referrals to other agencies for support
• Telecare assessments
• Offering advice about keeping warm in the winter.

Care providers, health practitioners, carers and other agencies who already visit people in their own homes are well placed to identify individuals who may be at greater risk of fire and require extra support from Kent Fire and Rescue Service.

KFRS will accept referrals from any partner agency to arrange for one of our home safety officers to make a safe and well visit where they consider people vulnerable to the risk of fire.

Our home safety officers can make referrals to other agencies where they identify further support is needed, for example to Age UK and other charities, local authority social care, social services, health trainers, care navigators, etc.

Making a referral

To make a referral to Kent Fire and Rescue Service please complete a referral form filling in as much detail as possible and send it to:

Kent Fire and Rescue Service, The Godlands, Straw Mill Hill, Tovil, Maidstone, Kent ME15 6XB; or email [email protected] or securely to [email protected].

For more information, our home safety team can be contacted at [email protected] or call 0800 923 7000.

• More ways KFRS can work with partner agencies

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