New scheme assists on hospital stays for care home residents
Date posted: 23rd June 2017
A new scheme is currently being piloted across Pennine Lancashire, with around 30 care homes participating in the first two phases of the rollout.
A distinctive red bag with “Together a healthier future” emblazoned on the front, will be accompanying care home patients when they are admitted to hospital. When a decision is made for a care home resident to go to hospital, the care home will pack a red bag to go with the resident.
The red bag is a convenient and portable way of ensuring that all the necessary documents and personal items accompany the care home resident and follows them from admission, during their hospital stay, and then following discharge, back to the care home. The red bag is easily identifiable and designed to hold all the essential belongings and standardised documents that care home and hospital staff need when a patient is admitted to hospital.
In Sutton, where the red bag scheme originated, they found that it improved communication between hospital and care home staff, improved the whole hospital admission and discharge experience for everyone, and the average length of hospital stay for care home residents was reduced.
The red bag will contain personal belongings such as day of discharge clothes, toiletries and personal aids (ie glasses, hearing aids etc) and medication. The red bag also includes 6 ‘must have’ documents:
- Resident’s Assessment Form
- CARES escalation record
- MAR Sheet
- This is me leaflet
- Checklist
- Medicines hospital admission checklist