The Implementation of the Hospital at Night Model of Care - a UK survey
The Hospital at Night 2008 UK Implementation Survey found that almost 80% of NHS trusts across England, Wales and Scotland have adopted the Hospital at Night (HaN) method of teamworking. This is a significant increase compared to 2006 when the survey for England only found that 48% of NHS trusts had started to or had successfully implemented HaN.
The 2008 report shows that HaN is becoming well established and mainstream across the NHS in the UK. Since being piloted with four NHS trusts in 2003/04, it is now being implemented across each of the four countries in the UK.
Gerry Bolger, senior project manager for Hospital at Night, said: “Hospital at Night is in reality not an optional extra but a model of good care in today’s quality and patient focused NHS. The model is recognised both across the UK and internationally as an effective way of managing care out of hours.”
As well as providing new opportunities and enhanced roles for nursing staff, some hospital trusts using the model are reporting a reduction in clinical incidents.
Wendy Reid, clinical lead for the Hospital at Night project, said: “Hospital at Night supports trusts in several ways, including delivering safer care and providing safer training. The model supports many of the items on today’s trust agendas, such as safety and efficiency, whilst both protecting training time and supporting the junior doctors in training within a team approach.”
The report shows a positive change in the number of acute hospitals who are implementing the concept. The report also shows that mental health providers are embracing the HaN approach and utilising it to support better patient care out of hours using a multiprofessional team method.
Working Time Directive 2009 
