News & Updates
Breathing Space – How step-down beds in City & Hackney are being used to address challenges of inpatient flow and private bed use
9 September 2024
By Miles Tringham, Improvement Advisor Leaving an inpatient hospital setting is a challenging time; needing to balance recovery, support, and getting back to independence. Unfortunately, some people stay on wards longer than planned because they have nowhere else to go. These social needs become a bottle neck in the system, causing a knock-on effect on… Read More
Reducing Non-Attendances and Improving Health Equity within the Neurodevelopmental Team at City and Hackney CAMHS
6 September 2024
By Lorraine Dick-Charova (Clinical Team Lead for NDT) and Rebecca Itlas (Assistant Psychologist) City and Hackney CAMHS launched a Quality Improvement (QI) project to reduce Missed Appointment rates within our neurodevelopmental pathway. This Tier three specialist service, serving a diverse population in Hackney and the City of London, observed a high number of missed appointments,… Read More
Newham Mental Health: Reducing Use of Private Admission Beds
6 September 2024
By Lucy Brewer (Improvement Advisor), Brunot Ngangue-Ekwe, Ola Kurdelska and Tim Opoku (Inpatient Discharge Team), Dave Baillie (Associate Clinical Director – Inpatients) Teams have been under extremely significant pressure regarding flow through the system. This is due to several issues, such as more complex housing and social factors, and has led to fewer availability of… Read More
Using a driver diagram to support reduction in waiting times for Newham Foot Health Service
5 September 2024
Authors: Marie Parchment (Clinical Lead Podiatrist), Jo Raphael (Head of Adult Therapies), Sarah Skeels (Deputy Director) and Clarissa Sorlie (Improvement Advisor) The Newham Foot Health service are using quality improvement methodology to help them capture their theory of change, in their efforts to reduce waiting lists. Figure 1. Newham Foot Health team Each month, the… Read More
Improving Patient Flow: The Red to Green Approach in Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health
5 September 2024
Written By Dalila Magdu and Vernanda Julien Figure 1: Tower Hamlets Globe Ward Red to Green Morning Huddle Current Situation The rising population and increasing complexity and severity of healthcare needs have led to a higher demand for healthcare services. The demand often exceeds available resources, and discharges are frequently delayed due to complicating factors… Read More
Improving Patient Flow in Forensic Services using Quality Improvement
5 September 2024
By Lorna Hayes (QI Project Manager and Coach) with contribution from William Diaz (Improvement Advisor) The Forensic Directorate currently provides secure inpatient services to almost 200 patients with mental illness, learning disability and/or autism, specialist outreach support and supervision to community patients with complex needs. It mainly consists of 2 secure units – John Howard… Read More
The Systems Flow Programme: A Journey of Innovation and Collaboration
5 September 2024
By Sarah McAllister (Head of Improvement Programmes) In the face of mounting pressures on adult mental health inpatient units, East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) has embarked on an ambitious Quality Improvement (QI) programme for 2024/2025. This programme aims to improve patient flow across the entire system, addressing both clinical and financial challenges. The primary… Read More
Improving Flow by Focusing on Better Care Planning and Transitions
2 September 2024
By Chloe Preston, Improvement Advisor Bedford Adult Recovery Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) are carrying out a QI project to improve care planning and transitions, ensuring care that service users receive is needs-based and appropriate. By doing this, the team aim to reduce caseload sizes, waiting times, and the number of service users awaiting assessment…. Read More
