Good conversations and written documentation with frail inpatients, outpatients with long-term conditions, and in surgical pre-op, allow us to think differently about what really is in a patient’s best interest.
Whilst medical input is essential, specialist nurses are a great resource for some of the lengthy discussions and formulation of care plans. We should use them well.
Helena Clements
So colleagues in adult specialties who are developing virtual wards are in a perfect place to facilitate good discharges with appropriate care plans, prevent re-admissions through the revolving door and where disease is progressive, support patients and their families to embrace symptom control and quality of their lives.
As we start to prepare for winter AGAIN, every admission we can prevent through this kind of approach is time well spent and a good investment. It will impact on flow and reduce pressure at the front and back door and any reduction in demand reduces our carbon impact. There will be fewer patient journeys, fewer investigations, less consumption of single-use items and drugs and most importantly, a better patient experience. It needs time and human resource. Whilst medical input is essential, specialist nurses are a great resource for some of the lengthy discussions and formulation of care plans. We should use them well.
A new vision of health needs to happen in parallel. Give public health specialists, paediatricians, health visitors, teachers and communities the resources to show parents and children how to stay healthy. We can deliver healthier adults and make some preventable diseases a thing of the past. My vision of the future will include empty beds, fewer respiratory and diabetes related diseases, a culture of healthier lives and good deaths in the right place. This is a low carbon vision which, given recent weather patterns, can’t be adopted and funded soon enough!
