Hospital Discharge of Older and Frail Residents

We very much need to hear about older, frail residents’ experience of going to A&E at Northwick Park Hospital, or STARRS (short-term assessment, rehabilitation and reablement service).

When an older, frail resident attends A&E or the Urgent Care Centre at Northwick Park Hospital they are assessed by a new team. The team includes STARRS, a frailty assessment, a Frailty Nurse and discharge to home team. The approach prevents unnecessary hospital admissions. So people are no longer admitted to a hospital bed just because they are older. They may be assessed as being fit to return home, or to return home with home visits to meet their health needs, or they may need to be admitted to hospital.

We did speak to a number of patients and staff. People told us about a few concerns they had. We passed these on to the hospital so they can sort out these issues.

We are as assured as we can be that the new pathway is safe – it has identified some medical concerns more effectively than A&E, prevented unnecessary hospital admissions, slightly reduce the number of re-admissions, and reduced costs. The NHS Brent CCG and the hospital team will be presenting their work to an international conference in Paris. This new Frailty Pathway will be presented to the NHS Brent CCG Executive as a business case to invest longer term.

Due to new data protection rules Northwick Park Hospital have been struggling to put us in touch with people who have been recently discharged from hospital. If you know someone that has recently been discharged from hospital please contact Ian Niven on 020 8912 5831 or email ian.niven@healthwatchbrent.co.uk