What is this all about?
We know that, where appropriate, patients who can be treated at home or in a community setting recover more quickly, have better outcomes, and reduce pressure and costs for healthcare services. Thinking about patient care more holistically and encouraging integrated care pathways for patients, with care given in the right place at the right time, makes a lot of sense, and is therefore at the very heart of the current national strategy: The NHS Long Term Plan.
Why does it matter?
People are living longer, often with long-term health conditions. This means more people need healthcare, and that healthcare pathways and treatments are more complex. Unless the structure or budgets for healthcare in the UK are fundamentally altered, we must find ways to make modern healthcare services more efficient. Strategic health bodies and the new government have identified patient discharge as a key area of focus in order to better link health and social care, provide better outcomes for patients, reduce pressure on healthcare providers and reduce cost.
Sounds great, so what’s the problem?
Despite this, patients are often unable to be discharged from hospital in a timely manner, either due to a lack of awareness of where suitable ongoing care is available, or a lack of information about a patient’s care needs.
Why does this happen?
Until recently, patient discharge had often been viewed as a final step in the healthcare journey. Solutions were provided as part of a core Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, and didn’t always capture information needed for a patient leaving hospital. Hospital systems were unable to communicate with other systems health providers used in a community or home setting for a patient’s ongoing care, and didn’t map to the processes they followed in helping the patients recover.
How do we solve it?
Most healthcare organisations now acknowledge that this is a challenge of people, process and technology together; it can therefore best be solved by asking all healthcare staff involved in patient care what they need, before considering the processes that support them, and then designing solutions which provide the right information, in the right place, at the right time, regardless of the system they are using. Of course, involving patients and those close to them in decisions about their care is also important and now identified as a key pillar of a successful discharge strategy.
What does good look like?
Lots of government, healthcare, and supplier organisations are working hard to help address the discharge challenge, because it offers a real opportunity to improve care for patients. The most successful projects are those which feature:
- Strong collaboration between healthcare organisations.
- Close alignment with suppliers and partners who have flexible solutions and experience in connecting systems and understanding pathways.
- Executive leadership teams taking account of strategy as a living, breathing process, which adapts to developments over time, rather than being a line in the sand.
Where can I begin?
Join us on Thursday, 16th January 2025 (11:00 GMT) as we talk to some of the people involved in helping streamline the patient pathway between providers and across care settings. We will discuss the 3 main considerations for any organisation embarking on its digital transfer journey:
- People – having the right people and roles in place is crucial for effective patient transfer, but it’s really only half the picture. How can organizations ensure they have the right communications channels between organisations to ensure smooth and effective handover between settings?
- Process – what does a successful transfer of care pathway look like? What is needed in order to ensure all staff involved in a patient’s care can access the right information, in the right place, at the right time?
- Technology – how can organisations ensure existing systems can communicate across settings before layering dedicated transfer solutions and feeding relevant information into the patient care record? How can organisations gather the right data to inform their progress and refine services?
We offer a discharge readiness assessment which can help you benchmark where you are today and where you want to be in your digital discharge journey.
