DHG recognise that a safe, well-planned discharge can make a huge difference to an individual’s recovery, wellbeing and independence and prevent future readmissions – ensuring the right patient is using the right equipment at the right time is imperative to improving patient outcomes and sustaining care delivery.
Over the past 12 months, DHG have supported NHS England and A1 Risk Solutions with the roll out of strategic workshops to ICBs and Chief AHP leads across England. The workshops highlight the need for the use the single-handed care approach across Health and Social Care and how these services can be set up to facilitate a timely hospital discharge and continued care into the community, resulting in an improved patient flow.
Having worked in collaboration with several Trusts on discharge pilots, such as University Hospitals Southampton, DHG are well placed to support ICBs with discharge planning – from equipment provision to resource support e.g. joint assessments with our RoSPA Moving and Handling (Level 4) qualified team. A recent study with Advanced Occupational Therapists at University Hospitals Southampton concluded that standardisation of equipment across acute and community settings can enable earlier intervention to discharge the patient from hospital to home with a single-handed care package. Click here to read the full case study.