This week Blackpool Teaching Hospitals are participating in the #TeamFyldeCoast improvement week in collaboration with health and care partners across Lancashire and South Cumbria.
The exercise will build on what has been learnt responding to the pandemic, test new ways of working and ensure people have the best possible experience of health and care services.
Today’s focus is on the Discharge Lounge.
Following on from yesterday’s communication around Golden Patients, it is important we consider all patients for the Discharge Lounge on the acute site. Our aim is to transfer patients to the lounge before 10am each morning.
The Discharge Lounge is a comfortable, safe, and relaxing environment for patients to be collected by transport, friend or family member and is open between the hours of 8am and 8pm.
Patients due to transfer to the Discharge Lounge will need to be notified the day before their expected discharge date. Ward MDT will be required to advise the patient’s carers and relatives that they can be collected from the Discharge Lounge, rather than the ward.
Staff at the Discharge Lounge continue to deliver the highest level of patient care and ensure that the final part of a patient’s stay at Blackpool Teaching Hospital is a restful one. Here, staff will ensure that patients have the correct medication and paperwork before they return home.
Please note, the exclusion criteria for the Discharge Lounge are as follows:
- End of Life
- Infectious patients
- Covid positive patients
The Discharge Lounge needs to be part of the patient pathway, so patients should expect to be collected from the lounge at the end of their stay. If you require any further information on the discharge lounge, please contact our staff directly on the following number 52354.
It is worth noting that Monday’s focus on the Golden Patient has had a real and immediate impact, with many wards showing some outstanding work in this regard.
Reflecting on activities from yesterday, one ward which looked to be working well with the initiative is Ward 26, Care of the Elderly.
We spoke with Sister Dee Dalanon-Fenton, who has been at the forefront of embracing the Golden Patient ideas.
“It is quite a challenge working in the care of the older person, but we do have our patients that can go to the discharge lounge or we can discharge them early before 10am,” Dee said.
“The day before I facilitate the pharmacy-led, I make sure that the discharge things are already identified. Like if they have got a need for a district nurse, we would do an added covid swab and I actually make sure that that is already done by the night staff or very early after handover. That will help me cut out any delays.
“Before any discharge happens, we do a board round and our consultant is quite good in identifying patients for discharge and then we will see who is suitable for the discharge lounge.
“One of the key ways in which the golden patient initiative works is that by taking the patients to the discharge lounge I have now taken the two patients from handover from AMU and it is not even before 10 o’clock.
“If I take just two patients, that will help the flow of AMU and A&E, and we want to contribute as much as we can. I know the pressure of the waiting times and that the patients are really poorly at the moment, so as a team we want to help.
“Our matron, Maria Jennings, is also supportive and I am proud to say that we have got a good team. We also make sure that we handover those patients that are identified as Golden Patients so the night staff can help, even with the simple things such as the valuables check, and if the patient is already awake they can give them their medications and that will help to reduce any delays.
“Also, to help the discharge lounge, because I know that they are going to be pressured with all the patients going to them, we make sure that it is our staff that are taking the patients down the discharge lounge. That helps because then I don’t have to wait for the discharge lounge staff to come and get my patient, it is our staff who bring them down.”
Sister Dee’s Top Tips For Golden Patients
- Identify potential Golden Patients early
- Discuss Golden Patients at handover
- Work with night staff to prepare Golden Patients for discharge
Take patients to discharge lounge to speed up handover