Two transformation projects are underway to support the planning of the reconfiguration of services in Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and urgent mental health services.

They follow on from a successful programme in 2019 to extend the frailty service and bring in new ways of working.

The Clinically-Led Activity and Redesign (CLEAR) programme will focus both on improving the efficiency of SDEC for adult patients in medicine, surgical and gynaecology, as well as enhancing the care of patients waiting a long time in ED in need of emotional wellbeing support and paediatric inpatients waiting for CAMHS services.

Sponsored by NHS England, the new projects will support us with our ongoing plans to reconfigure services over the next five years – increasing our understanding of activity and demand while proposing new models of care to improve the patient journey and colleague  experience.

The SDEC innovation project will focus on optimising SDEC for adult patients in medicine, surgical and gynaecology (excluding frailty) with the aim of optimising access to the most appropriate clinician, while reducing waiting times and ED congestion. It will involve a review of the patient pathway for these specialities and referrals into the service.

There is high demand for our acute services from patients in need of emotional health and wellbeing services in a crisis.

The project will focus on long stay patients (adults, children and young people) in ED needing urgent mental health services and children under 16 services who are on inpatient wards at CRH waiting for CAMHS services.

Former colleague, Claire Brewster, had a long career at CHFT and was Frailty Sister during the 2019 project. Following that, Claire has gone on to work with 33n, who are supporting the work) on a number of different projects and is now the Delivery Lead for a number of projects across the North East.

More about the CLEAR programme

CLEAR is a national programme, originally developed in partnership with Health Education England and now sponsored by NHS England, regions and systems. It combines clinical insight and data analysis to create innovative new models of care and workforce redesign to enhance the quality, safety and efficiency of services and deliver sustainable change.