1 December 2023

Camden Integrated Adult Services (IAS) visited University College London Hospitals (UCLH) today as part of an event to share good practice in enhancing patient flow.

“The better we communicate with partners, the better we can take care of patients,” said Gareth Turner, Therapy Lead.

“Delivering high levels of patient care in the community is critical to address one of the greatest challenges in the NHS; of hospital admission avoidance and the safe discharge of patients from hospital”.

CNWL partners with UCLH on some of our adult services in Camden, including Virtual Ward, Rapid Access, Silver Triage and ICE (Integrated Community Bed Escalation) Hub.

The team came away as third place winners for their presentations supporting patient flow, see more information below.

Rapid Access Services and Virtual Ward

Rapid Access and Virtual Ward allow patients to get the care they need at home, rather than being in hospital.

The number of patients seen has increased, and there has been a similar trajectory for Rapid Access Services and Virtual Ward with “more medically unwell patients being treated in the community” rather than going into hospital or remaining in hospital beds.

Rapid Access are involved in the following pathways to support flow:

  • Falls pick up pathway
  • Non-weight bearing pathway
  • Spinal brace pathway
  • Delirium pathway
  • Point of care testing
  • Carelink

Silver Triage

Silver Triage involves real-time support provided by senior clinicians with expertise in geriatric emergency medicine to ambulance clinicians assessing older people living with frailty at immediate risk of going into hospital.

Since the beginning of September 2022, there have been 1814 calls answered and 83 per cent of patients have been treated out of hospital.

ICE Hub

ICE (Intermediate Community Bed Escalation) Hub was launched in North Central London in October 2022, and supports patients from hospital into community rehabilitation beds.

ICE supporting flow at UCLH:

  • Single waiting list for community-based rehabilitation beds across North Central London
  • Reduces duplication of referrals to multiple units at once
  • Shorter delay times if patents need to be diverted to another unit
  • Faster screening as notes passed between units through ICE
  • Opportunity to coordinate response to acute pressures, and better understand demand and capacity

Read more about the presentations here (open PDF).

Serena Ng, Senior Improvement Facilitator at UCLH said:

“This event marks an important moment as we aim to celebrate our successes in enhancing patient flow over the past year and share ongoing initiatives designed to further advance our achievements”.

Find out more by visiting the service page: Camden Rapid Access Services