Latest figures from the Complex Discharge Hubs (CDHs) at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) show that, thanks to the Early Intervention (EI) service, more people are being discharged to their own home where they recover more quickly and less people are being admitted to long term residential home.
EI was rolled out in March 2020 and is now fully integrated into health and social care pathways across Birmingham. Its goals are to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and premature admission to long term residential care, to avert delays in discharge from hospital, to help patients to remain as independent as possible in their own surroundings.
The CDHs are located at the Queen Elizabeth, Heartlands and Good Hope Hospital sites, with Solihull Hospital being supported by Heartlands Site, and operate a seven-day service from 8am-6pm. The teams are made up of complex discharge nurses, social workers, therapists, administration and discharge coordinators and homeless practitioners.
During January and February 2022, 65% of patients were discharged home with packages of domiciliary care. 31% of our patients were discharged to a non-acute (community) bedded setting and 4% of patients were discharged to a new long-term placement.
For the same period in 2021, 62% were discharged home, 31% were discharged to a community bed and 7% were admitted to long term residential care. This has been the trend over the last few months.
The CDH is part of the integrated Hub (iHub), an EI service that manages around 2000 hospital admissions and discharges each month across Birmingham. The CDH liaises with the iHub to co-ordinate the transfer of patients from hospitals to their ongoing health and social care pathways.
Emily Freer, Operational Manager for the CDH said: “The EI work has enabled us to build closer relationships between acute and community and gain a better understanding of what services are available in the community. This means we can make more informed decision around what care is best for the patient and facilitate discharge to these destinations. Our teams at each site are without doubt helping to meet the goals of the EI service and we are proud of our contribution to the success of the programme.”
UHB colleagues are reminded that to refer a patient to the CDH a Transfer of Care form needs to be submitted. This can be found under the patient’s profile in the Clinical Portal. The latest updates can be found on Clinical Portal under ‘Transfer of Care’. Alternatively, please call the complex discharge hubs on any of the following phone numbers below.
QEHB – 0121 371 4593 / 0121 371 4595 / 0121 371 4592 / 0121 371 7195
Heartlands/ Solihull – 0121 424 1622 / 0121 424 0770 / 0121 424 1088
Good Hope – 0121 424 7880 / 0121 424 9196