Search the hub

This blog reflects on a patient safety concern arising from the death of my late best friend. It argues that discharge decisions should not rely too heavily on point-in-time observations, early warning scores or apparent mobility when serious unresolved pathology may still exist in the background. The aim is not to assign blame, but to highlight a wider safety learning point about the need to assess the full clinical picture when deciding whether a patient is safe to leave hospital. One of the most troubling lessons I have learned from healthcare harm is that a patient can appear “well enough” for discharge on paper while, in reality, still being at grave risk. My late best friend died after a final illness in which I believe the bigger clinical picture was not given enough weight. I have already been through the formal NHS complaints route and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Those processes did not uphold my concerns. But what remains with me, and what I believe has wider patient safety relevance, is the reasoning pattern that I think his case illustrates. My concern is not simply that the outcome was tragic. Poor outcomes alone do not prove poor care. My concern is that short-term signs of improvement appeared, in my view, to carry more weight than serious unresolved pathology in the background. This is the patient safety issue I want to highlight: discharge decisions can become too heavily influenced by a snapshot of how a patient looks on one day, rather than by the full trajectory and unresolved seriousness of their illness. A patient may have acceptable observations, a relatively low National Early Warning Score (NEWS), the ability to mobilise and an understandable wish to go home. But none of that necessarily means the underlying risk has gone away. That distinction matters. Observations tell us whether certain physiological measurements are abnormal at a particular moment. They do not, on their own, tell us whether infection has truly been brought under control, whether worrying imaging findings have been resolved, whether organ dysfunction is still evolving or whether a fragile improvement is likely to collapse after discharge. The danger, in my view, is that “safe for discharge” can slide into meaning “not obviously unstable right now.” Those are not the same thing. This case has left me with a lasting concern that healthcare systems may sometimes over-value point-in-time indicators of stability and under-value the wider pattern of serious disease. If that happens, discharge may be judged through too narrow a lens. The patient may look acceptable in the moment, but the unresolved pathology may still be severe enough to make discharge unsafe. This is not an argument against NEWS, against discharge or against trying to help people leave hospital promptly when it is appropriate. It is an argument for clinical reasoning that looks beyond the snapshot. When clinicians are considering discharge, especially in complex patients, I believe there should be a more explicit safety question: does this patient merely look stable today or is the overall clinical picture genuinely safe for discharge? That question requires more than observations. It requires attention to imaging, unresolved infection, organ function, co-morbidities, recent deterioration and the likely direction of travel once the patient leaves the ward. For families, the distinction can be life-changing. For patient safety, it may be system-changing. My hope in sharing this is not to assign blame, but to support learning. If one lesson can come from this death, I hope it is this: the bigger picture should never be overshadowed simply because a patient appears acceptable on observations on a particular day.

At a recent Patient Safety Education Network meeting, Karen Male, ward leader at the University Hospital Southampton, gave a presentation on how she reduced falls on her ward. We asked Karen to share her journey and insights in a blog for the hub. The Patient Safety Education Network is a informal voluntary peer network for those in patient safety education and training roles. It provides a monthly drop-in session with guests to talk through issues of importance to those in patient safety education and training roles and now has over 470 members. You can find out about the network here. The challenge I joined the ward 14 months ago at a time when there was a high number of falls. In one year there was 72 falls, including four high-harm falls, and we would regularly have three falls a day. Falls prevention and staff confidence was low in the management and assessment of falls, and policies and procedures were not being followed. The ward layout was challenging—a corridor with three-bedded bays, long and narrow. Many of the patients were older and there had been a lot of Covid infections. My goal was simple: to reduce the falls in our ward. What I did I organised an entire ward awayday focusing on falls education, prevention, management of falls, and policies and procedures—everyone attended at the same time. This allowed the staff to discuss the way they worked ('work as done'). Back at the ward a Baywatch bay and a PHUDD scoring system was set up with the aim to reduce falls, particularly unwitnessed falls, by identifying if someone is high, medium or low risk of falling. The ward is a long corridor so one to two Baywatch bays are required. The PHUDD scoring system was used to identify those patients most at risk and to identify where they can go on the ward for the safest outcomes and if additional support is needed. It’s completed at least once daily for patients. On the PHUDD scoring system, 1 point was given to each question where the answer is yes. A point was added for any fall in the hospital. This was then used to decide which patient needed to be in the Baywatch bay. This score is on the handover and reviewed daily and at catch ups. Outcomes We have significantly reduced our falls—there has been 61.7% reduction in falls. There has been two long periods with no falls (one for a 48-day period and one for a 50-day period). Since the education day, we have had 1 or 2 falls a month rather than 5-11 falls every month. In the last 4 month we have had 6 falls instead of the potential 44. Staff are now educated on policies and procedure around the prevention of falls and the management of falls. Staff are proactive in the prevention of falls. Everyone knows that the Baywatch bay is the priority. And then everyone has their ends of the bay but we all cover each other. We have signs to say that’s it’s a Baywatch bay—for staff but also for relatives to say we can’t leave this bay. PHUDD score gives us evidence. You might have enough staff but we might have five patients with a particularly high score. So we have more staff around the bays to even it out where it’s needed. Night staff feel empowered to move patients who were most at risk to higher observation beds as they are the staff group most affected by falls on the ward. Bay nursing introduced handovers conducted outside of the bays, which enhanced the communication as opposed to being in an area away from the patients. We have completed a falls After Action Review and were praised for our significant improvement in post falls management and documentation. Senior management across our Trust have asked to learn more about the falls reduction plan. Barriers faced I met barriers. Staff were not acting in the way I wanted so I met resistance. But I was very honest with them. Told them what the consequences were. Got the most resistant on board first and then everyone else was easier. At the beginning the staff were demotivated and didn’t feel part of a team. We need to keep our teams valued and motivated. It’s an ongoing commitment to staff. We are always looking at how we can improve and asking staff what their ideas are. I think the biggest thing I did was look at what was my one main priority. And that’s what we focused on—falls. Now we are moving to pressure ulcers. If you pick one big thing to work on it’s easier. Give it a big focus and then, once sorted, move on to the next thing rather than trying to do everything at once. Next steps Training and education is essential—this has continued regularly from the ward leadership team. I’d like to do some simple quantification—more cost effective, efficient. PHUDD score gives us evidence. You might have enough staff but we might have five patients with a particularly high score. So we have more staff around the bays to even it out where it’s needed. We are now doing another nurse-led trial setting daily goals for patient mobility. We are very clear what the goals are, to increase mobilisation, and these goals are on the handover sheets for everyone to see. Further reading on the hub Yellow kits - an innovation to reduce the risk of falls in Accident and Emergency departments "The greatest part of this adventure has been the sharing of information." The Patient Safety Education Network one year on Implementing the aSSKINg pressure ulcer care bundle – a blog by Susan Martin Have you implemented a new initiative in your organisation? Have you improved patient safety where you work? We would love to hear from you and share on the hub your journey. If you are a member, you can share directly on the hub or please contact [email protected] to discuss further.

This conference focuses on recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient and ensuring best practice in the use of NEWS2. The conference will include national developments, including the recent recommendations on NEWS2 and Covid-19, and implementing the recommendations from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch Report Investigation into recognising and responding to critically unwell patients. The conference will include practical case study based sessions on identifying patients at risk of deterioration, improving practice in patient observations, the role of human factors in responding to the deteriorating patient, improving escalation and understanding success factors in escalation, sepsis and Covid-19, involving patients and families in recognising deterioration, using clinical judgement, and improving the communication and use of NEWS2 in the community, including care homes, and at the interface of care. The Recording of NEWS2 score, escalation time and response time for unplanned critical care admissions is now an NHS CQUIN goal. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/virtual-online-courses/deteriorating-patient-summit or email [email protected]. hub members receive a 20% discount. Email [email protected] for the discount code. Follow on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #DeterioratingPatient

This conference focuses on recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient and ensuring best practice in the use of NEWS2. The conference will include national developments, including the recent recommendations on NEWS2 and Covid-19, and implementing the recommendations from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch Report Investigation into recognising and responding to critically unwell patients. The conference will include practical case study based sessions on identifying patients at risk of deterioration, improving practice in patient observations, the role of human factors in responding to the deteriorating patient, improving escalation and understanding success factors in escalation, sepsis and Covid-19, involving patients and families in recognising deterioration, using clinical judgement, and improving the communication and use of NEWS2 in the community, including care homes, and at the interface of care. The Recording of NEWS2 score, escalation time and response time for unplanned critical care admissions is now an NHS CQUIN goal. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/virtual-online-courses/deteriorating-patient-summit or email [email protected]. hub members receive a 20% discount. Email [email protected] for the discount code. Follow on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #DeterioratingPatient

This conference focuses on recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient and ensuring best practice in the use of NEWS2. The conference will include National Developments including the recent recommendations on NEWS2 and Covid-19, and implementing the recommendations from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch Report Investigation into recognising and responding to critically unwell patients. The conference will include practical case study based sessions on identifying patients at risk of deterioration, improving practice in patient observations, the role of human factors in responding to the deteriorating patient, improving escalation and understanding success factors in escalation, sepsis & Covid-19, involving patients and families in recognising deterioration, using clinical judgement, and improving the communication and use of NEWS2 in the community, including care homes, and at the interface of care. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/conferences-masterclasses/deteriorating-patient-summit. Twitter @HCUK_Clare #DeterioratingPatient hub members receive a 20% discount. Email [email protected]

The Deteriorating Patient Summit focuses on recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient through improving the reliability of patient observations and ensuring quality of care. The conference will include national developments, including the recent recommendations on NEWS2 and Covid-19, and implementing the recommendations from the HSIB Investigation into recognising and responding to critically unwell patients. The conference will include practical case study based sessions on identifying patients at risk of deterioration, improving practice in patient observations, responding to the deteriorating patient, improving escalation and understanding success factors in escalation, sepsis and Covid-19, involving patients and families in recognising deterioration, and improving the communication and use of NEWS2 in the community, including care homes, and at the interface of care. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/conferences-masterclasses/deteriorating-patient-summit or email [email protected] hub members receive a 20% discount. Email [email protected] for discount code Follow on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #DeterioratingPatient

The Deteriorating Patient Summit focuses on recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient through improving the reliability of patient observations and ensuring quality of care. The conference will include National Developments including the recent recommendations on NEWS2 and Covid-19, and implementing the recommendations from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch Report Investigation into recognising and responding to critically unwell patients. The conference will include practical case study based sessions on identifying patients at risk of deterioration, improving practice in patient observations, responding to the deteriorating patient, improving escalation and understanding success factors in escalation, sepsis & Covid-19, involving patients and families in recognising deterioration, and improving the communication and use of NEWS2 in the community, including care homes, and at the interface of care. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/conferences-masterclasses/deteriorating-patient-summit or email [email protected] hub members receive a 20% discount. Email [email protected] for the discount code Follow the conference on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #DeterioratingPatient

The Deteriorating Patient Summit focuses on recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient through improving the reliability of patient observations and ensuring quality of care. The conference will include National Developments including the recent recommendations from the Royal College of Physicians on NEWS2 and Covid-19, and implementing the recommendations from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch Report Investigation into recognising and responding to critically unwell patients. The conference will include practical case study based sessions on identifying patients at risk of deterioration, improving practice in patient observations, responding to the deteriorating patient, improving escalation and understanding success factors in escalation, sepsis & covid-19, involving patients and families in recognising deterioration, and improving the communication and use of NEWS2 not only in an acute setting but also in the community and at the interface of care. For further information and to book your place visit https://www.healthcareconferencesuk.co.uk/conferences-masterclasses/deteriorating-patient-summit or email [email protected] Follow on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #deterioratingpatient hub members can receive a 20% discount. Email [email protected] discount code.

This Hospital at Night Summit focuses on out of hours care in hospitals delivering high quality safe care at night. Through national updates, networking opportunities and case studies this conference provides a practical guide to delivering a high quality hospital at night, and moving forward during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. The conference will also focus on improving staff well-being at night and reducing fatigue. Attending this conference will enable you to: Network with colleagues who are working to improve Hospital at Night Practice Learn from developments as a results of Covid-19 Improve your skills in the recognition management and escalation of deteriorating patients at night Understand and evaluate different models for Hospital at Night Examine the role of task management solutions for Hospital at Night, including handover and eObservations Ensuring effective and safe staffing at night, including adequate breaks Examine Hospital at Night team roles, competence and improve team working Improving safety through the reduction of falls at night Supporting staff and reducing fatigue at night Develop the role of Clinical Practitioner and Advanced Nursing Practice at night Identify key strategies to change practice and ways of working in Hospital at Night Understand how hospitals can improve conditions for night workers and support Junior Doctors Improve the management of pain at night Work across whole systems to improve support for patients out of hours Self assess and reflect on your own practice Gain CPD accreditation points contributing to professional development and revalidation Evidence Register There are a limited number of free places for hub members. Email: info@pslhuborg if interested. Follow on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #hospitalatnight