NHS Forth Valley: Slight improvement in emergency admissions but still lots of work to do
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The hospital has struggled in recent years to get anywhere near the target for patients to be seen and either admitted or discharged within four hours.
While numbers meeting the target had plunged well below 50 per cent, in recent months it has stabilised around 57 per cent of patients being treated within the four hours.
The target set by the Scottish government is 95 per cent.
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Forth Valley has often found itself the worst performing health board for the four-hour waiting time but its board members were told that there is now work to make sure that all health boards are reporting in the same way.
In Forth Valley, for example, there is a policy of not keeping people waiting in ambulances.
Members heard that in some other board areas, ambulances can sit for hours with patients on-board and the four-hour clock does not start ticking until they are admitted to the premises.
FVRH also does not have patients waiting in corridors within the ward areas, as this is viewed as “a patient safety risk”.
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Hide AdThe hospital is also at a disadvantage as it is the only site in the board area for emergency care so there is nowhere to divert patients to when it gets overly busy.
A report to the NHS Forth Valley board explained some of the work that has been going on to address the problem.
Members were reminded that problems in the emergency department are a symptom of how busy the whole hospital and healthcare are as a whole.
Tackling the problem involves a “whole system approach”, across all local health and social care services.
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Hide AdProjects are now ongoing to make sure that alternatives to emergency hospital treatment is in place and well signposted to patients.
The study is also looking at the average length of stay for patients and finding ways to improve this.
In particular, work is ongoing to tackle the long-term problem of delayed discharge, which is keeping too many hospital beds are occupied by people who no longer need acute treatment.
The report stated that the total number of delayed discharges (acute and community hospitals) “remain at high levels”, with a sustained increase in FVRH.
The latest data, from May, shows there were 148 delays.
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Hide AdTreatment times have, however, been much better at the Minor Injuries Unit and work is ongoing to see how this service could be used by more patients.
Another project making a difference is the Hospital at Home service, which is continuing to expand.
The work to reduce admissions will also help the aim to remove extra beds that have been placed in wards to cope with demand and the success of this will be reviewed in September.
Board member Martin Fairbairn said he was assured by the report “that there is a lot going on” but he added that he would like to know which would be the “most impactful” and what the time line was likely to be to get a clearer understanding of the work.
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