An NHS trust in the North East is using data to work with social care colleagues to help patients leave hospital faster.
Since South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust adopted a digital tool called OPTICA at both their hospitals last year, they have seen significant reductions in the number of long stay patients.
Between February 2023 and February 2024, there has been a 37% reduction in the average number of delay days per month since OPTICA adoption for long stay patients.
Figure 1: Fall in the average number of delay days per month
The average number of extra days patients ready to leave stayed in hospital per month, before and after OPTICA adoption in December 2023.
The trust has also reduced the average number of additional days for long stay patients who are ready to go home by 5 days or 47% despite a 5% increase in admissions.
This means patients are spending less time in hospital once they are ready to leave, reducing the risk of increased frailty and infection. Beds are also being freed up faster for those that might need them.
Figure 2: Fall in the average number of delay days per long stay patient
The average number of extra days individual long stay patients ready to leave stayed in hospital, before and after OPTICA adoption in December 2023.
Leaders at the trust recognised they had high numbers of patients in hospital for longer than necessary, so set about redesigning their processes and finding a new digital tool to help transform hospital discharge.
The trust reviewed work patterns on the wards to ensure the discharge conversation started much earlier in a person’s hospital stay and re-introduced the Transfer of Care Hub team, made up of trust staff and adult social care staff, to acute hospital wards to support staff education and promote ‘home-first’ thinking.
At the same time, the trust introduced OPTICA, which provides visibility of all tasks required within the discharge process. It connects directly to patient information systems and maps patient journeys from hospital admission to discharge.
The product allowed more junior members of the team to take greater ownership and responsibility, freeing senior nursing staff from computer-based tasks so they could oversee complex discharges.
The digital solution is giving the trust better real-time oversight of demand and areas of pressure across their hospitals, improving capacity management. It has also highlighted the differing reasons for delays across wards and specialities, allowing targeted work with wards and staff.
South Tyneside and Sunderland staff are feeling the benefits of the system.
A transfer of care nurse said: “OPTICA has taken pressure off the daily coordinator, as each nurse updates their own records. They don’t all queue up to hand over updates”.
A transfer of care hub matron said: “It provides us with the opportunity to match staff availability to demand at the beginning of the shift and adjust throughout the day as demand changes”.
A hospital discharge system coordinator at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust said: “The trust will soon be rolling out OPTICA to more hospital wards so they can use it at daily board rounds and to improve communication with the multidisciplinary teams, as well as patients and carers, around the status of discharge plans”.
Anna Hargrave, Divisional Director of Community Services at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Over the past 18 months, this tool has enabled us to make better use of data to drive operational changes that have led to improvements in performance.
“This is hugely positive for our staff, who are enjoying better ways of working, and for our patients, who are able to safely leave hospital faster than they were a year and a half ago”.
OPTICA is currently used in 20 NHS trusts and is one of the core products offered to NHS trusts as part of the NHS Federated Data Platform, which is currently being rolled out across England.
Publication reference: PRN01464_i