News & Blog
LLR Care Record Proves Worth in Supporting Hospital Discharge
Powered by Interweave, the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) Care Record is helping health and care staff gain a more holistic view of an individual’s care – something that has proved to be beneficial during recent busy times in LLR’s hospitals.
The LLR Care Record brings together people’s separate health and care records into a structured, easy-to-read format all in one secure place. It joins up information based on the individual rather than one organisation.
To support continuity of care, the LLR Care Record is helping Leicestershire Partnership Trust’s (LPT) community health services in spotting acute admissions and advising University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) ward staff more easily of the ongoing care needs of admitted patients to avoid deterioration.
Informal feedback also suggests staff are finding the LLR Care Record particularly useful in aiding discharge planning from acute and community hospitals. They can see what services or equipment are in place to support a person’s move back home and how their support needs may have changed. In a recent LLR Care Record user survey at LPT, a respondent from community health services said: “Having the information all together helps save valuable time having to source the information from different places or having to wait on the phone.”
During peak periods, there can be significant pressures on bed space across local hospitals and it is vital that those who would benefit from being cared for outside of hospital are able to leave a ward bed and return home – and that their risk of re-admission is reduced.
To support discharge, local authority staff report that they value access to LPT’s community hospital discharge letters via the LLR Care Record which helps to inform assessment and understand changes in people’s abilities. Seeing UHL discharge dates also helps community health services to time the resumption of care services in the community.
Laura Godtschalk, LLR Care Record programme lead, said: “We have been told that the Care Record has proved invaluable in recent weeks in helping those involved in hospital discharge to see a more complete record of their patient’s care, for example, in checking Medequip data to see what support equipment a person may have at home and whether they can be discharged home safely. This ability to see across health and care records from different organisations is helpful to staff who are planning ahead at very busy times in the hospitals and also during the most pressured times for the system.”
The LLR Care Record is now live for more than 5,000 users. It has been rolled out across adult social care in Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Rutland County Council, and to East Midlands Ambulance Service. Rollout is progressing in Leicestershire Partnership Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester, Patient Care Locally CIC, and pilot usage in GP practices (Forest House, Ibstock and Woodbridge), LOROS hospice and community pharmacies.
To find out more about the LLR Care Record, visit the LLR Integrated Care Board website – https://leicesterleicestershireandrutland.icb.nhs.uk/your-care-record/
The Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Care Record is powered by Interweave. To find out more about this technology and how it can benefit your organisation, visit https://www.interweavedigital.com