CASE STUDY Whittington Health
Daily audio conference call means patients return
home happier and
more swiftly
After a stay in hospital most people are keen to return home as quickly as possible. However,
before they can be safely released it’s vital the right support is in place. For example,
does a district nurse need to visit, or is equipment or social care required?
Delivering the right support takes complex co-ordination. Delays
to patient discharge occur when communication goes astray.
At Whittington Health, Jar O’Brien was tasked with helping
implement BT MeetMe audio conferencing to keep
everyone on the right track.
Now clinicians are able to hold a daily conference call
to discuss individual patients’ needs. Barriers
to their discharge are quickly overcome.
Patients are happier. And so is the Trust,
given the savings being made.
Using BT MeetMe we have freed up 830
bed days over two years, improving the
lives of 130 patients, and saving the
Trust approximately £307,000.
Jar O’Brien
Islington Community Rehabilitation Services Team Lead
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
CASE STUDY Whittington Health
BT MeetMe makes for better intermediate care co-ordination
and helps optimise the use of hospital beds
Challenge
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
(Whittington Health) is responsible for
delivering community health and social
care services to clients living in the London
Boroughs of Islington and Haringey.
Within that, the multidisciplinary Islington
Intermediate Care Services team collaborates
to support mainly older people along with
relatives and carers.
“An important aspect of our role is facilitating
the discharge of people from hospital with
the right levels of intermediate care in place,”
explains Jar O’Brien, Islington Community
Rehabilitation Services Team Lead. Much of
the work is carried out in people’s homes or
at day centres and residential nursing homes.
It can involve anything from fitting handrails
over the bath, to helping with walking,
personal hygiene, and home cleaning.
Jar continues: “Putting the necessary
support infrastructure in place involves the
co-ordination of services from many different
departments.” This had traditionally meant
lots of emails, meetings, and telephone
calls – not to mention follow-up if initial
communications failed. The resulting
complexity led to delays in discharging
people from hospital, blocking hospital
beds unnecessarily.
Solution
The potential of collaborative tools like
BT MeetMe led to a trial to assess whether
conferencing could improve communication
and also reduce the need for travel.
Jar says: “BT MeetMe looked a perfect way
for us to collaborate better, to accelerate the
Offices worldwide
The telecommunications services described in this
publication are subject to availability and may be
modified from time to time. Services and equipment are
provided subject to British Telecommunications plc’s
respective standard conditions of contract. Nothing in
this publication forms any part of any contract.
© British Telecommunications plc 2011.
Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ
Registered in England No: 1800000
PHME 63270
11/11
delivery of essential services, and enable
people to be discharged from hospital more
quickly. There was nothing to set up; we
started using it right away.”
BT MeetMe is a hosted audio conferencing
service that only requires a fixed or mobile
phone for access. It’s easy to use and available
at any time, every day of the year. Prior
booking is unnecessary and there are no fixed
charges for the BT MeetMe service itself.
Value
The new approach for Whittington Health
involves a daily conference call with each
hospital and key stakeholders to discuss the
needs of individuals approaching discharge
and requiring intermediate care. “BT MeetMe
has some really useful features,” adds Jar.
“I use the participant count and roll call
facility, and I have the ability to lock the call
for security so that nobody else can join. As
chairman, I can also end the call when I hang
up. That cuts down idle chat after business
has been concluded.”
A key performance indicator for Whittington
Health is the number of additional days
patients stay in hospital because discharge
arrangements are not in place. “BT MeetMe
made an immediate impact,” says Jar.
“From historically being way off target, in
the first two months of using the service we
consistently beat the benchmark, lowering
delayed transfers from a running total of
around 15 at any one time to just four.”
Whittington Health uses BT MeetMe to
review the needs of typically around 25
patients each day. Jar confirms: “Using BT
MeetMe we have freed up 830 bed days
over two years, improving the lives of 130
patients, and saving the Trust approximately
£307,000. The only costs are around £250
each month for the BT MeetMe calls, and the
administration to record the decisions made.
I’d say that’s excellent value for money.”
From being one of the worst performing
NHS trusts in London for delayed patient
discharge, Whittington Health is now the
fourth best. “Team members now have a
much better appreciation of each other’s
roles,” concludes Jar, “and that’s helped us
all to work collaboratively, resolve issues, and
speed up patient discharge from hospital.
BT MeetMe is definitely helping us to get
patients back into the community more
quickly and that’s good for them and good
for the NHS.”
Following the success of the trial, Whittington
Health increased its BT MeetMe accounts to a
total of 16 and extended its use to include the
Trust CEO and the senior management team.
This is helping improve general business
efficiency and reduce travel, supporting a
more sustainable business model.
BT MeetMe is definitely helping
us to get patients back into the
community more quickly and
that’s good for them and
good for the NHS.
Jar O’Brien
Islington Community Rehabilitation Services Team Lead
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
Core BT services
¾ BT One Conferencing – BT MeetMe