Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13 - Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

10 2. Progress on our
2012/13 Priorities
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Quality Report 2012/13
Governors’ Priorities
Last year our Governors identified three quality
improvement issues and requested that these should be a
priority during 2012/13. This section provides an update
on the work undertaken by the Trust for this period.
1. Managing the
healthcare needs of
the frail and elderly
Frail older people project
We have undertaken a detailed analysis
of the pathways that frail, elderly
patients follow and this has helped
identify a number of improvements
that would have the biggest impact on
these patients including:
• Providing comprehensive geriatric
assessment at the point of
presentation to acute hospital
• Providing active treatment
by health and social care
professionals in the patient’s home
for a maximum period of 21
days, as an alternative to hospital
admission, in pilot areas
• Providing education and training
in dementia care across the Trust
• Involving patient and carers in our
redesign work.
This project has three key strands:
• Changing the way we manage
the care of elderly patients
within the Trust including
new ward arrangements,
active rehabilitation, increased
ambulatory care, seven-day
working, improving discharge
processes and dementia screening
• Working with key partners
including improved early detection
and intervention for dementia,
rapid patient assessments and
partnership working with clinicians
in primary care
• Potential commissioning changes:
understanding and discussing
with the new commissioners
how potential changes in
commissioning may impact on
elderly care.
As a result of this ongoing work,
while admissions for this group of
patients continue to rise, their length
of hospital stay has decreased.
Our population is changing
Many people choose to retire to the
South West for the quality of life it
offers. This means that the RD&E
serves a population whose age curve
is ahead of the rest of the UK. Year
on year we are looking after more
older patients with complex needs.
Many of these patients are diagnosed
with dementia - a physical condition
which comes from the progressive
deterioration of the brain tissue and
its functions.