New Integrated Discharge Hubs created at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital
A new area and approach to safely and efficiently discharging patients at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital has been implemented, through specially refurbished ‘Integrated Discharge Hubs’ at the site.
The Hubs have been created for onsite multi-disciplinary team (MDT) working, enabling better outcomes for patients – where colleagues involved in various aspects of the discharge process can work directly together to ensure the timely and safe release of patients into the community.
Previously, the various teams, such as therapy, discharge liaison, community and social work care teams, had been working in their own separate areas.
This often meant that ‘ward boards’ would take place in the wards themselves, and would be the only time that they routinely met face-to-face to update each other on the status of patients undergoing assessments for a safe discharge.
Following the creation of Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital’s Andrew Ward, colleagues at Samuel Johnson sought to refurbish the area now housing the Hubs to allow for the various teams involved in the discharge process to work alongside each other. This allows them to discharge patients in a more efficient, collaborative and timely manner as a result of integrated MDT working.
Discharge Liaison Sister at the Hubs, Michelle Gregory-Frost, explained:
“Through the Hubs, we all work together through effective collaborative working across disciplines and see the ‘bigger picture’, improving our ability to deliver the best possible outcomes for our patients.”
The Hubs provide a number of benefits to patients and how colleagues provide their care, Michelle says:
“It means that we can simply turn to one another to keep each other informed on patient updates – meaning that by the time we do get to the ward boards in the morning, we’ve already had crucial conversations about the patients and made plans, and can use that valuable time to bring up potential issues to rectify.
“MDT working really makes the best use of all of our time, and creates a ‘one-stop-shop’ for all aspects of the patients’ discharge process. We are more likely to avoid duplication of work, make sure crucial information isn’t missed, and understand the scale of the different assessments required for each patient by each team through this approach.
“The creation of the Hubs is very good news for the relatives and close contacts of patients too – as it allows us a clearer understanding of where each patient is at in the process, and therefore we can clearly communicate this to the relatives and those who care for them.
Sharon Martin, Executive Chief Operating Officer, said:
“The hubs are one of the many things we are doing to improve patient flow through our hospitals, by supporting the discharge of patients who no longer require hospital care back into the community in a safe and timely manner. This in turn frees up hospital beds for patients who are seriously unwell.
“This is an extremely important service – requiring effective collaboration between colleagues from a range of disciplines and, by working together, the Hubs will support us to deliver the best possible care to our communities."
Michelle agreed that this was one of the biggest benefits of the new Hubs at Samuel Johnson:
“MDT working such as this leads to much more robust discharge plans, which leads to reduced length of stays, which leads to improved patient flow – all of which lead to better outcomes and greater capacity at the Trust.
“We’re all on the same page here and it shows! We couldn’t be happier to have the new Hubs here at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital.”