Older patients avoiding long stays in A&E - trust

A hospital frailty service has enabled more than 1,000 patients to go home the same day they were treated, with their A&E waiting times halved on average, an NHS trust has said.

The frailty team based in the emergency department at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, aims is to see all patients aged over 70 within 30 minutes of their arrival at hospital for an initial clinical triage, East Kent Hospitals Trust said.

The team includes specialist nurses, consultants and resident doctors, advanced clinical practitioners, therapy staff and pharmacists.

Frailty specialist practitioner Jade Clark said intervening early allows "colleagues in the emergency department to focus on others."

Michael Foster, 93, had an accident at his home in Lyminge, Kent.

After being admitted to the frailty unit, he described his care as "very good."

"I have been very surprised at the standard of care. You hear comments about hospitals but I said to one of the staff, you would pay a lot of money at a hotel for this service," he said.

The trust said the average wait in A&E for specialist triage was cut by half, "from an average of 10 to under five hours, and there was a 24% increase in patients triaged within 30 minutes.

Ms Clark said: "We know that for people living with frailty, hospital is not necessarily the best place to thrive.

"Once we started getting the project data through it was clear we were having a real impact on waiting times, and making sure people get the right care, at the right time."

Kim Fittall, lead advanced clinical practitioner for frailty at William Harvey Hospital, said the idea was to "really have a look at what's causing the problems that are bringing them in (to hospital)."

She said the frailty team wanted to ensure patients "have the best quality of life" and that the care team tried to ensure patients "don't come back in unnecessarily" or if they do not want to.

"We try to ensure holistic assessments for patients for the frailty service for all aspects of their lives," she added.

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