Healthcare partners join forces to get set for Easter

From 7 to 17 April, we are joining up our work with health and care partners across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly for a focussed fortnight where everyone will be working together to further improve how patients move through our services.

This initiative will help get our hospitals ready for Easter, when we know demand for our services will increase over the extended bank holiday. For us at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT), we’ll be building on the work we are already doing to improve patient flow and deliver safer and more timely care for our patients.

Robin Jones, our Chief Operating Officer, explains about how we’ll be bringing all our recent improvement work together to push forward with this approach: “As an organisation we’ve been working incredibly well. This isn’t about doing anything new, it’s about making best use of all the initiatives we’ve already got – focussing on what we can do to make a safe discharge earlier in the day, making sure we are well planned in our discharges and engaging patients and their visitors in their journey in our hospital.

“We’ve seen relentless commitment from our colleagues to make handovers in our emergency department (ED) quicker and slicker to help get ambulances back out on the roads. And we’ve been working tirelessly to move patients from ED to our wards faster in a safe way. This fortnight builds on this work, it’s taking what we’re already doing to the next level.”

Across the two weeks, everyone across health and care services will be focussed on:

• helping patients navigate urgent and emergency pathways more easily
• supporting people to leave hospital promptly when they’re medically ready
• connecting more patients with community-based care closer to home
• ensuring everyone receives consistently good care wherever they are seen

Robin added: “We can’t do this on our own, the whole system is playing their part, and I would ask for patients to get involved too. Our patients should know why they are in hospital, what’s happening to them today, what needs to happen to enable them to go home and what the plan is for them to go home. As a patient, or a loved one of a patient, ask those questions, it means you are part of the journey to get you home safely at the earliest opportunity.” 

Watch this short video with Robin Jones and Rick Strang, RCHT Improvement Lead, to find out more about what’s involved and how you can play your part, as they talk about getting our hospitals set for Easter and beyond. 

Tamsyn Anderson, Chief Operating Officer at Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The aim of this focussed fortnight is to learn where there are places we can be more efficient and effective in supporting people to receive their care in the right place.

“For us in the community, that is particularly important with the ways we want to transform our services. It means more people receive their care either at home or within our community services. We have a breadth of services we can offer for people now. That includes oxygen, intravenous antibiotics, nebulisers, therapy, and other treatments you traditionally might have been admitted to an acute hospital for.

“Our frontline teams are working tirelessly to ensure we have the maximum capacity to look after people at home or close to home within our services.”

In the lead up to Easter, NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly is promoting ‘where is best’ advice for local residents and visitors, from self-care at home to when is appropriate to use the emergency department. Knowing this will play a major part in keeping our emergency services available to help the people who need them the most over the holiday period.

Chris Reid, Chief Medical Officer, NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, said: “Collaboration between health and care services is absolutely vital as we prepare for the anticipated increase in demand over the Easter period. By working together, we can ensure that patients experience a seamless journey to the services that best meet their needs, often by using services in their local communities or in their own homes which can reduce avoidable admissions to hospitals, or enable them to return home as soon as they are well enough without delays. Our integrated approach enables us to manage the increased pressure more effectively, ensuring that we continue to provide safe, high quality care to everyone who needs it. This initiative is a powerful example of what can be achieved when we all pull together for the benefit of the people we care for.”