Discharging patients as early as possible is reaping benefits for patients and colleagues on ward 5. They are consistently the top ward for discharges before 11am, with their best week seeing 92% of patients leave on time.

Ward Manager Mandy Musgreave said “It’s just better for everyone and I’m really pleased that we do this as a matter of course day-in, day-out.

“It’s safer for those patients we need to admit too. If we can get them a bed early enough they can be seen by our own dedicated medical team. Their plans are reviewed and put in place quickly and we can act on them straight away.

 “It also means we generally avoid having to use the on-call team through HOOP who have to cover the whole site.

When asked how the ward got to this point Mandy added: “We plan all our discharges as a team in our morning handover.  It means we can make sure we have the discharge letter, medication sorted and any care package in place for lunchtime the next day – clearing the way for new patients.

“I’m really proud of how the team and our discharge coordinator Cath Varley have just got on with it – it’s standard practice for us now.

 "It’s really worked well with providers of care locally too. They have all got on board and now expect to have a care package in place by lunchtime”.