From Patient Discharge to Transfer of Care

Patient discharge is not the end of the pathway, but a vital step in the onward patient care journey. At its heart, transfer of care is not complex – it is timely transfer of care across or between settings to support patient recovery. 

Despite this, the recent Darzi review of the NHS identified that 13% of NHS beds were taken up at any one time by delayed discharges. Lord Darzi highlighted that “The most immediate solution to hospital capacity issues is to address delayed discharges.”

Join us 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 organisations 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?

Host:

Robert Hurrell – Senior Business Development Manager Health ​​​​​​​

Panel

Mark Angus – Group Director for Urgent and Emergency Care at The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London and former Programme Director for the Digital Frontrunner Programme for Patient Discharge at Sussex ICS.

Breffní Smith – Senior Consultant at Moorhouse Consulting, and Radiation Therapist in Oncology Services, with particular interest in patient flow and designing successful patient pathways.