Fewer patients waited for beds in our emergency departments, and more patients were discharged during our recent ‘flow week,’ which took place from 10 to 14 January. It focused on reducing delays across our hospitals – from the moment a patient arrives at our emergency departments, to the care they receive on a ward, to working with our system partners so the right support is in place for them to leave hospital. 

During the week, senior leaders supported clinical teams to resolve issues that were causing delays – or hampering hospital ‘flow.’ Erica ward at King George Hospital, which is nurse-led, was opened for patients who no longer required medical care but had a short delay in their discharge. For example, they may have been waiting for care to be ready for them in the community. This freed up additional beds on our wards.

Patients spent less time waiting in our emergency departments for a bed to become available on a ward. There were also fewer patients staying in our hospitals for seven or more days, with a particular improvement at King George Hospital, back to levels we hadn’t seen since before Christmas.

The national target sets out that we shouldn’t have more than 50 patients in our hospitals who medically do not need to be cared for in an acute bed. While we still have work to do to meet this target, during our flow week, we saw a 23 per cent reduction in the number of those patients, from 117 to 90. Our colleagues within the healthcare system supported us in daily calls to prioritise discharging patients who were able to leave hospital.

Aleks Hammerton, Acting Chief Operating Officer for Emergency Care, said: “Longer stays in hospital are associated with worse health outcomes. It is therefore vital we keep working as a healthcare system to reduce delays. We must ensure every day spent in hospital counts for our patients; getting them back to the comfort of their own home as soon as possible.

“We’re looking at whether holding regular ‘flow weeks’, where everyone has a heightened focus on reducing delays, will see longer-term benefits for our patients, with our next week planned to start on Monday 7 February.”