Better flow to deal with NHS Lanarkshire pressures

Plans are developing rapidly across the health and care system in Lanarkshire to reset systems to improve flow through its acute hospitals.

Flow refers to the way patients move through a hospital, from admission to discharge. Improving hospital flow can lead to better patient outcomes, increased capacity, improved staff satisfaction and improved patient safety. It can also help reduce wait times and improve overall patient satisfaction.

Operation Flow (Focused, Lanarkshire, Optimal, Whole System) is divided into three stages: Stage 1, Preparation and Reset, which is currently underway; Stage 2, Firebreak, which will take place from February 23 to March 3; and Stage 3, Maintaining Good Flow, which will involve the implementation of a new flow model.

A vital part of the operation is the co-ordinated effort currently underway across services to prepare for the short-term firebreak. This is a powerful package of actions to quickly ease the current pressures across the three acute hospitals over a nine-day period.

The firebreak will stabilise acute hospital services by reinforcing and building on the successful measures NHS Lanarkshire has already put in place and introducing further targeted and focused actions.

Professor Jann Gardner, NHS Lanarkshire chief executive, said: “Operation Flow is a hugely exciting opportunity to make the improvements our patients and staff need in the face of the challenges experienced, not just in Lanarkshire but in health and care services across the country.

“Crucially, Operation Flow is based on tried and tested approaches. It’s about taking the approaches that we know will work and make a difference, and putting them together in a co-ordinated and focused way that brings the maximum benefit to our patients and staff.

“While the firebreak is really important to what we are doing and will bring immediate benefits, its greatest value is that it will free up the capacity needed to bring about sustainable improvements which will make our whole health and care system more robust and resilient in the face of future periods of pressure.

“Introducing a new flow model and maintaining good flow will make a massive difference to our patients and staff every day.”

Operation Flow is a whole-system approach that involves NHS Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire and the Scottish Ambulance Service working together closely.

Professor Gardner added: “By working together, we want to be able to get patients coming through our emergency departments seen, treated and either admitted or discharged as quickly as possible. At the same time, we need to be able to discharge patients, who are clinically fit, to their own home or another appropriate care setting.

“The safety and well-being of not only our patients, but our staff, who have been at the forefront of the current pressures, remains our priority.

“Thank you to our staff and GPs for their continued efforts to improve services and provide the best care we can.”