A dedicated team of nurses and therapists based at the front door of Royal Stoke University Hospital is helping to cut admissions to Accident & Emergency and improve health outcomes for frail and elderly patients.
The ‘Exemplar Front Door’ initiative, which has been in operation since May 2016, is currently helping around 50 patients a week to avoid being admitted to hospital, freeing up beds for other patients and reducing A&E pressures.
The triage team rapidly assesses the needs of frail and elderly patients in the ambulance as they enter the hospital and helps to get them into the best and most appropriate care environment for them, focusing on the principle of ‘home first’.
ow Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Groups are extending the matron’s beat by employing a new ‘Care Home Matron’ in a 12-month project to support staff and improve care practice and the health of patients at 20 homes across the region.
The Care Home Matron, a senior frailty specialist nurse, will begin work in January 2017and will offer members of staff daily face-to-face contact, education and leadership as well as developing a training and competency package which can be applied across care homes.
This project co-ordinates and supports patients with an approach which considers in-patient care and community support, using an extended multi-disciplinary approach including general practitioners, nursing, therapy and social care input, supplemented by specialist/secondary care involvement where appropriate.
The aim is to manage many of these patients in the community without the requirement for frequent unplanned hospital admissions.