Hello, my name is Imran Devji, I’m Deputy Chief Operating Officer at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and it is a pleasure to be guest blogger this week.
It's been a particularly busy week for the Trust, with a significant number of patients attending and accessing our services. The scale of the effort involved in keeping our hospitals running and our patients safe cannot be underestimated, and I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone for your flexibility, support with patient flow and for the compassion you have shown to our patients, and each other. At times of need, we really do pull together as a family to do all we can and I know many people have gone above and beyond this week, cancelling leave, working additional hours and changing shifts. Thank you!
This situation is not isolated to ELHT or even the Lancashire and South Cumbria system, it is being seen in hospitals across the country. Health professionals from every service – primary care, acute, mental health and community - are constantly trying new ways to help our communities know about and to choose the right care, at the right time, in the right place. By choosing well people are more likely to receive the treatment they need more quickly, meaning they are back home with their loved ones as soon as they are well enough.
This also has the positive effect of helping to ease some of the pressure in our A&E, where those with the most serious and life threatening of illnesses and injuries are seen and are most likely to need to be admitted to a ward for additional care and treatment.
Once our patients have received all the treatment and care they need, we know they will be better off physically and mentally recuperating at home rather than in hospital and we need to help them get back to their familiar environment, routine and home comforts as soon as possible. Given that just 10 days of bed rest for an over 80-year-old is known to be equivalent to 10 years of muscle aging, it is very clear that there is an urgent need to put a stop to people being in hospital any longer than is absolutely necessary. That’s why we have put a lot of focus on discharge, looking for ways we can support safe and timely discharge and put into place practices which are best for our patients.
So much so that we have changed our approach to discharge by starting to put plans in place on the day patients arrive in hospital, for their return home, with a mindset of every day matters and asking ourselves what can we do today to help each patient get closer to going home. As a result, our flow team and complex care team are working much closer together to reduce the amount of time our patients are in hospital.
There has also been a strong focus on our ward activity to implement several improvements which will enhance patient handovers, fine-tune our longer length of stay processes and establish a discharge checklist which reminds colleagues of actions that need to be taken to safely discharge the patient as soon as they are well enough.
Ward rounds have renewed focus on what is keeping each patient in hospital and what action needs to be taken to move them a step closer to discharge.
And more recently our discharge lounge has been remodelled to support the rapid, early and safe movement of patients not just from our wards, but also directly from the Emergency Department and Ambulatory Care Units on our Blackburn site.
There has been a really positive reaction to recent additions to this service, as breakfasts are now provided and patients able to receive a welfare pack with key staples like tea, coffee and bread to support them when they arrive home – all helping to improve the patient experience.
Of course, we are also working with our partners in the system so patients don’t need to come in to hospital, but instead receive care in their own homes as part of our virtual wards project. Our Home First service is doing a really great job of supporting safe discharge, particularly for more vulnerable patients and the Intensive Home Support Service team is making a huge difference in our communities by providing quality care in our patients’ own homes. Our clinical team assesses, investigates, supports and helps people to avoid any unnecessary hospital admissions and assists in returning people home after a hospital stay.
Next week the Trust will be even more focused on timely discharge as we approach the August bank holiday weekend – this will see all our services working together to support the Discharge Week campaign. No one wants to spend a bank holiday weekend in a hospital bed unless it is absolutely necessary, so every day you'll see reminders and information encouraging you to think ‘Why not home? Why not today?’ And we’ll also be encouraging our patients and their loved one to ask ‘Why not home? Why not today?’ too!
All these things will and are already helping to make a difference. So, although I know it remains busy and people are tired, it’s important we all remember to do what we can each and every day, whether you work at ELHT, at a partner organisation or health care service out in our communities, or indeed a patient’s loved one.
By working together, we will accomplish great results. By working together, we can ensure every day matters for our patients.
Thank you for reading.