Improvements felt by staff after Discharge Cell Improvement Event | Latest news

Improvements felt by staff after Discharge Cell Improvement Event

Staff and patients have come together over the past two weeks to help shape the future of the discharge process for patients at UHDB.

The Discharge Cell Improvement Event was held to identify areas in which patient discharge can be improved at our hospitals as part of our improvement practice scheme.

The Trust was awarded a place on the scheme on 12 April 2018, called ‘Vital Signs – an improvement practice for the NHS’, after submitting an application to NHS Improvement.

The improvement practice will strive to transform and continuously improve the care we deliver to our patients, while improving the efficiency of our working habits. The practice focuses on lean techniques and a systems approach, an approach widely used across the commercial sector which is applied to processes to identify waste and concentrate on what adds value to the customer.

After five days of work and analysis, 12 key areas of development were highlighted, with plans created as to how to implement changes – some of which have already been introduced on Ward 4 and Ward 20 at Queen’s Hospital Burton.

Some of these areas include implementing an updated Ward Admission Checklist, Discharge Education and improved contact with Pharmacy.

In addition to this, 15 ‘quick wins’ which have arisen from the event have already been implemented on these wards at QHB.

Danielle Kirk, who was most recently an inpatient on Ward 309 at the Royal Derby Hospital in January 2019, said that the event made her feel really involved in the future of patient care at UHDB: “We have been involved in everything that the staff have done during this event, and we will be coming back to work with IT and other teams to implement some of the changes we’ve proposed. We really think that these changes will help everyone.”

Yvette Johnson, who has also recently stayed on Ward 309 at the Royal Derby, echoed Danielle’s sentiments: “We have felt involved in the whole process and it’s amazing knowing that what we’ve discussed is actually going to be implemented on the wards. It’s important to know that this is the beginning of the journey and things will continue to grow from here.”

Tom Rollinson, Transformation Facilitator at UHDB who is supporting the work with clinical staff, said: “The energy in the room over the five days has been palpable. It’s amazing how many ideas the frontline staff have and the genuine drive from them to make changes to their services.

“This event has given them the head room to thing about their services in a different way, but the key is that staff now feel they have the time to think, develop and implement such changes.”

Sharon Martin, Chief Operating Officer at UHDB, was thrilled with the progress that had been made at the event: “It’s important for us to remember that we are at the start, not the end of the process. There has been a really good energy during this event, and we need to ensure that we continue this energy outside of this room.”

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