An NHS Foundation Trust has developed a seamless electronic social care referral system that ensures that social workers are fully informed of the special needs of discharged patients and can arrange any aftercare they need in advance. The Countess of Chester Hospital’s new system, which is based on their existing Meditech integrated patient care system, connects the discharge liaison office to Cheshire County Council’s social services department. Every patient in the hospital has a file on the Meditech system, and vital and confidential information such as demographic, next-of-kin and care requirements can quickly and accurately be transferred to social services. In order to ensure reliability, the connection is made over a secure LAN instead of email. Audrey Houghton, patient access manager at the Cheshire hospital, said that the system was extremely straightforward and easy to use. “It’s very user friendly. It works very well and has proven benefits for our patients and for both health and social care staff." “Nursing staff can refer patients to social services at any time of the day or night without having to wait for office hours. The new system allows the hospital and social services to begin planning for the discharge of patients with more complex needs at a much earlier stage." The system can be operated any stage of the treatment and discharge process. For instance, an early section two referral can be made using the system, and when a firm discharge date is set a section five notification can be processed using the previous data. Any further developments in the patient’s condition can be highlighted and tracked. Coralie Smith, from the trust’s IM&T team, told E-Health Insider that the trust was leading the way in good communications between health and social care: "I do see that this system will be adopted elsewhere. Legislation that came in last year says that we have to have clear lines of communication between healthcare and social services, and we have to discharge cleanly and accurately. “The beauty of doing it electronically is that it’s much clearer and you don’t have to keep duplicating paperwork. It’s good from the social services’ point of view as they have real clarity; because we’ve standardised the form, they get a standardised referral of a much higher standard." Cheshire county councillor and social services executive member Lynn Hardwick agreed: “This new system has resulted in closer working between the hospital and social services – and the main beneficiary, quite rightly, is the patient." “Everyone is different and each care package is based on an assessment of individual needs. Hospital staff can now immediately refer patients to us who we can help by making sure their own package of care is ready for their return home." The Countess of Chester Hospital was one of the first ten in the UK to be made a foundation trust on 1 April this year.
