QI 1195 Improving Flow of Care Needs Through Urgent Community Response (UCR)

Abstract

Aim: Improve patient flow from UCR Care into Adult Social Care (ASC) and staff to generate referrals to ASC within 3 to 5 days of assessment by October 2023. UCR (Urgent Community Response) is a dedicated crisis response team of Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Nurses, Therapists, Advanced Practitioners, Health Care Assistants and Admin who work with patients to prevent unnecessary admission to hospital by providing a rapid intervention delivered within two hours. The team wanted to use QI tools to improve their service. They wanted to meet their target of 3-5 days for referral to adult social care and they wanted to reduce over-prescription of care. Average length of stay at the start of the project was 6 weeks+; the team aimed to reduce this to 7 days.

Tools Used: PDSA Cycles - https://aqua.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/qsir-pdsa-cycles-model-for-improvement.pdf; Driver Diagram - https://aqua.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/qsir-driver-diagrams.pdf; SPC Charts - https://aqua.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/qsir-statistical-process-control.pdf; Process Mapping - https://aqua.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/qsir-conventional-process-mapping.pdf; Mapping the Last 10 Patients - https://aqua.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/qsir-mapping-the-last-10-patients.pdf.

Project Impact: • Average LOS for UCR Care reduced from 6 weeks in July 2022 to 2 weeks in October 2023. • The average time taken to refer to ASC was within the 3-5 day target by June 2023.