A radical plan to avoid a winter crisis in Fife’s main acute hospital is bearing fruit, according to health chiefs.
A wholesale change in practice has seen a 26.5% drop in admissions at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and a speedier discharge process for patients ready to leave.
The results have been hailed as “exceptionally positive” and the model of care will continue in to the future.
NHS Fife announced in September it was fundamentally transforming its processes after revealing serious concerns for patient safety last winter.
A surge in admissions and more delayed discharges meant doctors were overworked and the quality of care reduced, sometimes so significantly that harm occurred.
The new arrangements involve assessing more people as they arrive at hospital and, if appropriate, arranging care for them at home or in the community.
The assessment of people considered medically fit for discharge was also beefed up, while discharge lounges and hospital transport has been extended.
It was hoped the move would result in 100 fewer patients being admitted to hospital every week.
Professor Scott McLean, director of acute services with NHS Fife, said seven inpatient beds had been converted to assessment beds within accident and emergency. The aim was to discharge a quarter of patients straight from there rather than admitting them to wards.
“The data up to Sunday is we are currently discharging 26.5%,” said Prof McLean. “It took a couple of weeks to bed in but we’re turning around the right number of patients from that.”
In addition, patients assessed as needing diagnostic tests should now get everything they need in one day instead of being given several appointments over a number of days.
“We are streaming patients into ambulatory medicine and they are going upstairs to have a half day of diagnostic tests,” Prof McLean said.
“There are 400 patients a month going through that which is avoiding discharge. We predicted 400 a month by February but reached that figure in November.”
An increase in hospital transport means more patients are able to be discharged as soon as they are declared medically fit.
NHS Fife chairman Allan Burns said: “The feedback from staff has been exceptionally positive.”