RIVIAM is delighted by the news today from NHS England of an expansion of 'care traffic control centres' to speed up people's discharge from hospital when they are medically fit, freeing up hospital beds.

According to the announcement, there are "more than 12,000 patients every day in hospital despite being medically fit for discharge."

Quicker discharge from co-ordinated health and social care

The new 24/7 centres are a great example of the NHS delivering on its commitment to provide more integrated health and social care to improve care and alleviate winter pressures.

They enable different teams from NHS, social care, housing, and voluntary services to co-ordinate care in one place, providing a joined-up approach for people who need help once they have left hospital.

RIVIAM's Discharge service is a ready-made solution

A similar 'care traffic control' service is already up and running 24/7 in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES) enabled by RIVIAM.

The benefits are already clear:

1. RIVIAM's control centre and Discharge dashboard enables quick decisions about a person's discharge.
2. Patients can more easily access personalised follow up care.
3. Health, social care and voluntary sector providers can better co-ordinate together, improving care for people whilst also reducing duplication and saving costs.

Solution up and running in Bath and North East Somerset

Following a discussion with patients about their needs, ward staff at Royal United Hospitals Bath complete a new RIVIAM enabled ‘Onward Admission Form’.

Via the form, people can request a huge range of support options, from key safes and pendant alarms, to help with food, and even urgent house repairs which might be preventing them returning home.

The referrals are then received and managed at the Community Wellbeing Hub in BaNES which currently brings together 20 voluntary sector and community services including BaNES Council, HCRG Care Group, Age UK BaNES, Stroke Association, Dorothy House, Bath Mind and Carers' Centre.

Quicker decisions about discharge

RIVIAM's Discharge dashboard acts as a 24/7 control centre enabling quicker decisions about a person's discharge. Using the dashboard, ward staff can easily see the community care lined up for a person and its status.

We want to work with you to deliver the national roll out - get in touch

Our Discharge service is ready to support the roll out of this important plan. Please get in touch for a demo of our solution.