Working together to make hospital discharge safer for care home residents
NHS, care home and local authority teams across south east London are working together to make hospital discharge safer and smoother for care home residents.
During June and July, teams are visiting hospital wards that care for older people. The visits are part of a campaign to improve how residents move from hospital back to their care home.
The campaign brings together ward staff, hospital discharge teams, care home nurses and managers, local authority colleagues and ICB staff.
The aim is to help teams understand each other’s roles, share learning and find practical ways to improve discharge.
A safe and timely discharge can help residents return to familiar surroundings as soon as they are well enough. It can also help care home staff get the right information at the right time, so they can support residents safely.
Helping residents return safely to their care home
Benny Okpor, South East London ICS Social Care Nursing Clinical Practice Development Lead, said: “The campaign is focused on safer, smoother and more appropriate discharges from hospital to care homes.
“It is also helping to build stronger working relationships and better understanding between hospital and care home staff”.
Visits are taking place across King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.
Learning from staff across the system
The visits give staff a chance to talk openly about what works well and what can be improved. This includes common challenges in the discharge process and how different teams can work together to solve them.
One nurse who attended a visit at King’s College Hospital said: “This was a great opportunity for staff to meet face-to-face and share experiences”.
Feedback from the visits is being collected. The project team will use this feedback to understand the impact of the campaign and identify learning that can be shared more widely.
Information and resources for staff involved in the campaign will also be added to the Working in Partnership with Care Homes page.
Thank you to everyone from hospitals, care homes, local authorities and partner organisations who has supported the campaign so far.