Problem solving...
More than 200 people joined our summit on discharge in March 2023. The online event brought local, regional, and international colleagues together to share the challenges of achieving safe, timely and reliable transfers out of hospital, to gain insight into people's experiences and stories, and to take time to think about how we can collectively improve care for all people across the region.
It was widely accepted that the waits some people experience to leave hospital is unacceptable – affecting patients, families, carers, health and care systems and its staff. There was a real energy from participants to change these patient experiences. It was also clear that this is everyone's responsibility.
The event provided a welcome opportunity to learn from best practice in 14 breakout sessions. Some strong and consistent themes emerged in the group discussions: these included the need to work together around the whole patient pathway, some challenges to encourage us all to think about transfers of care rather than just 'discharge' and a consistent reminder to focus on the needs of the person and what matters to them, and their families and carers, ensuring they are all involved in the decisions made. Personalised care is so important and there is a real need to break away from a one size fits all approach when designing services.
Since the meeting a discharge and safe transfer of care collaborative has been established (August 2023) – this sits alongside an operational discharge and safe transfer of care oversight group for our integrated care system, which David Purdue is the executive lead for the Integrated Care Board (ICB). We are already leading the way in this work, so to have representation from a full range of partners from our health and care system shows the fantastic opportunity we have to build on. Collaborative members have already expressed they would like the opportunity to buddy with colleagues and seek support in problem solving, share good practice and understanding of what does / doesn’t work, as well as being active in experimenting in making improvements.
Further meetings will also be online and if anyone is interested in joining, please visit our Collaborative page...