Sixty care homes in south west London have joined an innovative digital initiative to ensure smooth hospital transfers since a successful pilot.
The care homes have signed up for the electronic version of the Red Bag scheme that proved so successful it was rolled out nationally – with more lining up to join.
The original Red Bag scheme – which remains an important aid for smooth discharges – was devised in Sutton by the NHS, council and care homes and ensures patients had all the important information they needed with them when they were admitted or discharged, benefiting their care and hospital experience.
It includes essentials such as key paperwork, medication and personal items like glasses, toiletries and clothes packed into a red bag and given to ambulance crews to hand to doctors.
The digital version, also devised in Sutton and piloted until February last year, sees people’s key information transferred securely from care homes to hospital staff in an emergency.
The eRedBag features information such as the patient’s personal details, GP, NHS number, next of kin and the reason why they are being transferred to hospital as well as symptoms, concerns and actions taken by care home.
It’s fantastic to see health and social care services working together to drive change and improve care for patients and their hospital experience.
Dr Vasa Gnanapragasam, local GP and south west London’s lead for care homes
It also includes the person’s medical history, current medication and vital signs observations plus other important details such as current pressure sores and mobility.
It was developed to further improve information sharing and communication between care homes, ambulance services, hospitals and community teams.
After feedback from the eRedBag trial revealed a 28% fall in emergency admissions to hospital, a 12% reduction in ambulance journeys to hospital and a 24% drop in A&E visits, the scheme started to be rolled out more widely across south west London.
Now more than 2,100 beds for people across 60 more care homes in the boroughs of Sutton, Merton, Wandsworth, Kingston, Richmond and Croydon are covered. That means more than 70 care homes – including those in the initial trial – now use the digital version of the original red bag.
Dr Vasa Gnanapragasam, local GP and south west London’s lead for care homes, said: “This is great news – it’s fantastic to see health and social care services working together to drive change and improve care for patients and their hospital experience.
“It’s brilliant that care homes in south west London have embraced this scheme. Not only does it help care home residents have an even smoother transfer to and from hospital, it also helps with the hospital’s assessment, treatment and care planning – as well as supporting a timely discharge for the patient.”
Vida Ofori, of Manor House Residential Home, Morden, said of the information in the eRedBag: “We love it. From start to finish, it has improved the experience – not getting many, if any, calls back from the hospital and not having to do anything manually.”
Anthony Nicholls, of Qualities Services Ltd, Croydon, said: “It’s easy to view and it is ultimately helping the service users. Everything makes sense and anything to make the service be more efficient is great.”
More information can be found on the Health Innovation Network website.
Further details about the original red bag scheme can be found on NHS England’s website and in a ‘quick guide’.