'Phenomenal' discharge teams presented with Team UHDB Award for making such a difference
Our “phenomenal” discharge teams have been selected as the deserved winners of our ‘Team UHDB Award’ after completely transforming the way we safely discharge patients as a Trust.
Nearly quadruple the number of patients are now being discharged from Royal Derby Hospital to before, while double the amount of applicable patients are now also coming through the Discharge Lounge at Queen’s Hospital Burton, compared to before.
Patients are now spending less time in hospital, with Derby’s Discharge Assessment Unit (DAU) and Burton’s Discharge Lounge both being expanded to help speed up the process of helping get patients back home to their families or onto their next place of care.
Separate Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 areas have also been set up at both units, to help limit the chance of the virus being spread and to put patients at ease.
At Derby, around 60 patients are now being discharged through the DAU every week day and 26 at weekends, while Burton’s Discharge Lounge is now helping twice as many patients, who are spending, on average, less than an hour and a half on the unit before being transferred.
Lizzie Sidders, DAU senior sister, said: “This award isn’t just for us but it’s for all of the colleagues and partners across the health and social care system. We really couldn’t have achieved the results we have without all of the teams coming together, from the advanced clinical practitioners, to the transformation team, therapies and portering. None of this would’ve been possible without everyone’s buy in and support. It truly has been a team effort and we’re delighted to have seen this recognised with this award.”
Helen Price, Discharge Lounge sister, said: “It was such a nice surprise to be handed this Making a Difference Award. The team have worked very hard to achieve what we have over the last few months. Lots of colleagues have come together from different areas to help make this happen and create a better discharge experience for our patients. We were originally only a small team but so many colleagues have played their part to make our service even better and it makes me feel so proud to have been part of that.”
These outstanding results wouldn’t have been possible without colleagues from across the health and social care system buying into the Trust’s commitment to improving discharges and working together.
Community assessment nurses, discharge support officers and colleagues in pharmacy, therapy, portering and our partners in Adult Social Care, Derbyshire Community Health Service and Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust have all worked closely together to achieve this goal.
This has ultimately led to a better hospital experience for UHDB patients, with Chief Executive Gavin Boyle telling both of our discharge teams in Burton and Derby that they’d done “an absolutely incredible job” during what has been an extremely challenging period.
He said: “This award is just a small way of expressing our thanks and heartfelt appreciation to our fantastic discharge teams. They have completely transformed the way they work for the benefit of our patients and in just a few weeks have solved problems we’ve had with discharge for years.
“It’s a massive understatement to say it’s been a tough few months but there have been some fantastic examples of integration during this time and this is certainly one of them. The way so many colleagues have worked together to improve the discharge process for our patients gives me huge hope for the future as we work in more joined up ways like this.”
Duncan Bedford, Executive Managing Director for Burton, added: “It is seriously unbelievable what we’ve achieved in such a short amount of time. Our discharge teams have done an absolutely fantastic job and, in very difficult circumstances, everyone has really pulled together. It is our patients who have felt the impact of all of this, which is fantastic to see. To see such an improvement to our discharge processes is truly phenomenal and the challenge now is to continue this going forward for the benefit of our patients.”