Partnership project pioneers patient discharge improvements

Working with Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the council's adult social care team and NHS staff can now access a single source of real-time information about each patient's discharge arrangements.  

Hillingdon Council and the trust was established as one of the first implementation sites to test the Optimised Patient Tracking and Intelligent Choices Application (OPTICA), one of the tools available to hospitals and their system partners through the NHS Federated Data Platform, at the start of the year. 

The roll-out of the secure system has been delivered by north-west London's acute providers, in partnership with the council, the NHS North West London Integrated Care Board, and Imperial College Health Partners. 

OPTICA monitors all admitted patients and the tasks relating to their discharge. This will ensure that patients are effectively discharged from hospital without delay, into the right place of care, with the right level of support, at the right time.    

The new system has streamlined processes, meaning staff can focus more on direct care, and less on administrative tasks.  

Cllr Jane Palmer, Hillingdon Council's Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, said: "The introduction of this new system is a significant milestone for the council, helping to ensure smooth and timely discharges from hospital for patients and, in turn, preventing delays and freeing up much-needed hospital beds.   

"This is part of our work with the NHS and other organisations to continue to develop innovative joined-up services to meet the health, care and support needs of our residents, helping to improve their health and wellbeing outcomes. We are embracing this technology as part of our commitment to being a digital enabled and modern council."  

Jen King, head of integrated discharge for the Hillingdon Health Care Partnership, said: "The digital platform has enabled us to enhance our collaborative working as a system. It is providing access to live updates across teams and reducing administration tasks and improving our discharge process by reducing delays, whilst allowing staff to spend more time out on the wards."