Tameside Hospital's frailty clinic hailed a success after drastically cutting waiting times and admissions

One year on since the hospital's Frailty Same Day Emergency Care Unit was launched, Tameside Hospital has revealed a huge improvement in how quickly patients are treated and discharged.

Thanks to a pioneering new way of caring for frail, elderly patients, Tameside Hospital has announced that half of all of those seen at the clinic were treated the same day by dedicated staff, helping to avoid in-patient admission for many old people. 

The Frailty Same Day Emergency Care Unit was launched a year ago, with the aim of providing comprehensive assessment and care for acutely unwell patients aged 65 and over. All patients are now routinely screened each day for clinical frailty in line with national best practice, and those who need it are quickly transferred for a comprehensive assessment and treatment. Where appropriate, same-day community discharge is arranged to avoid the need for an unnecessary admission into hospital.

Karen James OBE, Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS FT Chief Executive, said, "Over the last year, the Unit has helped half the patients seen avoid hospital admission.

“For example, in October, 336 patients were initially assessed in the emergency department, of whom 77 were suitable for comprehensive assessment on the unit, with 33 patients avoiding planned or expected acute admission. To put that in perspective, that means over the month, the unit saved the equivalent of 297 hospital bed days while delivering safe and effective emergency care to some of our most vulnerable patients."

James added that, through a process of continuous service improvement, analysis of the data suggests that even where patients do require hospital admission from the unit, the length of the hospital stay has fallen dramatically, from seven days to just two days.

"Most importantly, feedback from patients, families and carers has been overwhelmingly positive. The team (pictured) have worked so hard to make this a success and in doing so they have helped elderly, frail patients who need the best specialist care we can give. I am very proud of their achievement."