Challenges & objectives

Challenges

One of the key issues raised from the implementation of the Hospital at Night model was the importance of smooth implementation of the handover process. By introducing a weekend team, the frequency of the whole hospital handover will be reduced by 50% at weekends (previously the night team would hand over to the whole hospital on both Saturday and Sunday mornings). The makeup of the weekend and night teams will promote multidisciplinary team handover. Drawing on the success of the integration of the new practitioner roles into out-of-hours cover and on work done elsewhere on the development of wireless technology, East Midlands Healthcare Workforce Deanery will help Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust to move toward WTD 2009 compliance.

Specific objectives of the pilot

The East Midlands Healthcare Workforce Deanery project objectives are to:

• Create a multidisciplinary team to cover the daytime out of hours at weekends
• Implement the changes in line with the introduction of the national roll-out of the Foundation Programmes resulting from the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) initiative
• Provide a WTD solution to smaller specialities
• Provide continuity of care to patients
• Improve the patient pathway
• Provide safe and accountable handovers
• Reduce the complexity of handovers.

Benefits of the pilot

This pilot is based around a multidisciplinary team approach, which has demonstrable benefits:

• A sustainable solution for reducing the out-of-hours work of junior doctors in training
• Establishment of an efficient and effective weekend team
• Continuity of care for patients
• Improvement of the patient pathway
• Provision of safe and accountable handovers
• Reduction in the complexity of handovers
• Improvement of junior doctors’ skills
• Provision of generic training opportunities
• Exposure for junior doctors to a variety of specialities
• Provision of a WTD solution for smaller specialities
• Improvement in junior doctors’ experience of out-of-hours care
• Increased ability for junior doctors to capitalise on learning opportunities in normal daytime hours.