Important changes – Red2Green / Discharge to Assess

A lot of work has taken place in recent months to improve our discharge processes and support safe and timely discharge of patients who no longer need care in hospital. Staff from within the Trust and partners organisations have helped shape this work and we are very grateful for their input. 

We have recently looked at the Red2Green and nursing assessment documentation on Meditech to make sure it a simple and effective tool to support discharge. Following feedback from colleagues we have made some changes to this documentation, which will come into effect from Monday 30th May 2022.  

The key changes are listed below and we have also produced a guide to support ward teams. You can access that here. The Integrated Discharge Team will be popping into wards next week to discuss the changes and answer any questions you may have. 

Key changes:

Changes to the Nursing Assessment 

An Expected Discharge Pathway to be completed on admission. 
More focus on what matters to the patient to support safe timely discharge (asking the ‘what matters to me?’ 
Completion of these fields on admission will facilitate the patients discharge and ensure the most appropriate support is in place.  

Red2Green  

We have relooked at the Red2Green tool and refreshed it to help track any delays to patient care that could impact on discharge. Key changes include: 

• Stripping back and simplifying the list of Green and Delay reasons. 
• Adding in new questions, such as: 
  • Is the Patient Medically Fit (Y/N & Date) 
  • Is Discharge to Assess applicable (Y/N) 
  • Consideration by MDT if the patient's therapy/recovery can be provided in a less acute setting (Y/N and Reasons Why if No) 

If any of the above questions are 'No' then right to reside needs to be completed. 

You can view the Red2Green userguide by clicking here. 

General changes 

It is extremely important that the expected discharge pathway is completed on admission and Red to Green assessment is completed following the daily board round. This is not only to help with the timely discharge of patients, but also to inform clinical and operational teams of any delays and will be reported upon nationally.