Urgent cardiac patients sometime require transfer from their local hospital to a specialist tertiary centre. An electronic inter-hospital transfer (IHT) system for moving these patients existed in London, but wasn’t used to its fullest extent. Varying protocols between referring and receiving hospitals meant inconsistent usage, inequity in access, unwarranted variation and extensive waiting times for treatment and repatriation.
Solution
Working with provider sites, the ODN helped to embed usage of the Teleologic IHT system for the transfer of patients to tertiary centres within five clinical pathways:
- Cardiac surgery
- Cardiology
- Angio / PCI
South London IHT dashboard
View the dynamic data dashboard for South London: slcn.nhs.uk/dashboards/IHT.
(Email the networks to request a password.)
Weekly updates
The weekly IHT report provides a snapshot of transfers across south London.
Network coordination
Colleagues across the ODN and South London tertiary sites meet weekly to monitor IHTs. This ensures that any operational issues are quickly addressed and escalated as appropriate. View the IHT escalation policy.
Results
Patient experience
- Earlier decision for treatment -- with less uncertainty
- Receive more timely intervention
Patient outcomes
- Greater consistency, as all referring sites in south London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex have access and can refer patients through this system
- Improved communication between referring clinicians and tertiary centres
- Greater ability for clinicians to make high quality decisions on IHT referrals
- Service delivered within guidance timelines
- Reduction of patients breaching recommended timeframe
- Reduced mortality and readmission
Value for money
- Reduced costs due to shorter hospital stays
- Reduced complications due to earlier intervention
- Better capacity utilisation across the Network