In February, therapists from the inpatient medicine and elderly team carried out a two- month pilot project in A&E, MAU & SSU.

A new model of working, which has already been successfully implemented in the same area at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust, was introduced.

Providing dedicated therapy cover to this clinical area with extended hours of 8am-6pm, 7 days a week and at no significant additional cost to the Trust. 

AMU Consultant, Dr Suneeta Teckchandani, said: “The presence of the Acute Care Therapy Team, 8am-6pm, seven days a week has really been of great value to us on the AMU and the ED.

"We have managed to facilitate safe discharges all through the week and weekend, thereby decreasing the length of stay of patients who can go home; reducing the risks associated with a prolonged hospital stay. They also form part of our 'Safety Huddle' team contributing to reducing the number of falls on the unit”.

The outcome demonstrated its effectiveness in:

• meeting more of the clinical demand
• enabling more patients to be assessed
• more safe and timely discharges
• greater patient satisfaction.

The model of practice has had excellent feedback from therapists and clinicians within these areas, patients and their relatives and continues to be implemented with a plan to further develop the model in the future.

Discharge Co-ordinator AMU, Justine Moorhouse, added: “Having access to named therapists makes communication much easier and having support for discharges later in the day is positively impacting on safe discharges, admission avoidance and patient flow”.