Red bags’ to be rolled out across England’s care homes

Innovative ‘red bags‘ that help care home residents admitted to hospital be discharged quicker are being rolled out across the country.

The bags, which contain key paperwork, medication and personal items like glasses, slippers and dentures, are handed to ambulance crews by carers and travel with patients to hospital where they are then handed to the doctor.

The simple initiative started three years ago in Sutton, South West London, and now all areas of the country are being urged to adopt the scheme with a toolkit launched today to help.

Since April, the first parts of the country formally begin to work as integrated care systems. So far the initiative in Sutton has showed:

• Reduced hospital stays by three to four days, saving £167,000 a year
• Stopped patients losing personal items such as dentures, glasses and hearing aids worth £290,000 in a year
• Improved communication between care home and hospital staff saving time, resources and duplication

The scheme is just one NHS initiative taking place to make care more proactive in care homes; through the Enhanced Health in Care Homes Vanguard total bed days have dropped by 4.5%  as opposed to an increase in areas without the scheme of 1.4%.

There are half a million more people aged over 75 than there were in 2010 €“ and there will be two million more in ten years’ time. They are also spending more years in ill-health than ever before.

There are 100,000 beds and 1.3 million workers in the NHS and more than 300,000 beds and 1.5 million workers in social care; the two sectors are becoming increasingly interdependent.

As well as giving reassurance to patients, the red bags provide hospital staff with quick, up-to-date information and medication requirements for the patient, avoiding unnecessary phone calls.

Since starting in Sutton, South West London, the initiative has seen uptake in other areas following its success; around 50% of Health and Wellbeing Boards report they have started the scheme in their area and 90% say they have an aim to roll it out next year.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England National Medical Director, said: €œThis is an example of where a joined up approach is helping to improve patient care and speed up a stay in hospital for all the right reasons. Sometimes it’s the personal touch that makes a big difference to patients, especially if they’re elderly, and the red bag helps people feel reassured and more at home. Doing more of the obvious is key to improving all our experiences of care.€

Jason Morris, clinical team leader, London Ambulance Service, St Helier area, said: €œThe great thing about the red bag is that, put simply, the service is just more patient focussed.  Because the paperwork is standardised for every patient the handover to the ambulance crew is much more efficient.€

Care home staff are trained how to pack the bag correctly, ensure the easy check list is completed, and know who needs to take responsibility for the bag when an emergency admission arises. The same happens at hospital when the patient returns home.