Management Communication There needs to be an improvement in the structured Communication between Trust and Mary Kyne (General Manager Facilities) and Penni Harris ( Manager) to meet formally on a weekly basis Mary Kyne (GM Facilities) 13 October Weekly meetings have been set for every Monday at 10.30am Protocol for bookings Clear guidance needed on the transport service provided by There needs to be better control on who can book patient transport. Transport should only be booked for those patients that have a medical need. This will be outlined in the protocol for the patient transport service (PTS) New Protocol is required for bookings to include eligibility and mobility for transport. This is required to comply with the contract specification and meet the needs of our patients. The requirement for transport should be assessed by an appropriate clinician as follows: Consultant Hospital Doctor/GP Qualified Nursing Staff Strategic Group Strategic Group January This will be a high priority for the Strategic Group This will be enforced as a priority
Dentist Midwife Therapist The Trust needs feedback from patients on the service. Service Level Agreements (SLA s)to be checked and journeys recharged where possible. Control Room should be advised of the requirement for Extra Contractual Journey by 12pm the day before. There is no formal consultation with patients to assess their views on the transport service Admin staff can complete the booking request provided one of the above agrees. General Managers to check SLA s and inform Facilities of any recharges Matrons or delegated responsible person must discuss these journeys with Control Room on ext 6218 before booking The Trust has asked to undertake regular patient questionnaires. These must be agreed with the Trust and the questionnaires returned direct to the Trust for analysis. General Managers Will form part of the protocol Matrons Will form part of the protocol Mary Kyne December Mary Kyne requested a sample questionnaire. Will issue to Trust for agreement Ongoing Ongoing To be carried out in January The Trust There are areas to improve There is a lot of work Discharge Ongoing
needs to improve the discharge process for patients to ensure transport is ready to take them home. in the patient discharges Patients should be given sufficient notice of discharge and should have transport home arranged. There are times when discharge paperwork is not ready, and this may create a delay in discharge being done by the Discharge Group on improving the process. Group We need to ensure that patients are discharged with all their property and medication The Trust needs to ensure that the out of hours service for transport is fully informed of discharges. have appointed a liaison officer who will visit wards and oversee discharges and transfers Liaison Officer 30 October Liaison officer in place bleep 7512 30 October Confusion on what transport services are available Inappropriate booking of PTS transport i.e. misconception that have blue light functions to provide clear guidance on types of transport provided. Request for information given to The fleet must always What fleet they have
be fit for purpose Equipment available Clinical expertise of transport staff. Trust to perform monthly audits of the fleet Manager for Transport & Travel To run throughout the contract period Will commence in PTS eligibility Need clarification on transport service for patients on low income. Non emergency patient transport should not be booked for social need alone. There needs to be clear guidance on eligibility of patients who should receive transport home? Facilities and Finance to issue guidance for use of Hospital Transport Low Income scheme to issues eligibility criteria and new booking form Strategic Group to include in the new protocol Finance and Manager for Transport & Travel Strategic Group Guidance has been issued Received 6 30 October PTS eligibility information for patients The Trust needs to ensure patients are fully aware of how they can get to and from the hospital. Information on transport should be included in all correspondence and also on the Trust internet site. Communications February There has been a lot of work on this already. Ongoing
Key Performance Indicators Strategic Group March Complaints Trust staff and patients have expressed concern at the poor performance of the service Improve service and reduce the no of complaints. There have been 69 patient complaints this financial year. The monthly average for transport is 10. Aim to reduce this by 25% in 3 rd quarter and 50% by end of financial year Trust analysing complaints to target problem areas The majority of complaints are from patients who arrive too late or too early for their appointment. must improve the way they plan journeys to prevent this from happening. The new CLERIC booking system has better planning functions. January There is a lot of work underway to improve planning. Service Standard The Trust needs to reduce the number of patients waiting more than 1 hour for transport. Current no of patients waiting more than 1 hour is 155 per month (Sept 06). Must reduce by 50% by January Strategic Group January Awaiting further information from the Healthcare Assistants
Out of date electronic booking system Efficiency Savings must work towards achieving ongoing 3% annual savings. New CLERIC booking system to be launched on 6. CLERIC system has new features to improve booking of PTS. There is a direct email option to the Control Room to enable clinics and wards to advise of patient ready to go. CLERIC also has the option for Drivers to text Control Room to advice of pick ups and any delays. These are uploaded onto the system for wards and clinics to access. to instigate actions to achieve finance savings. A training programme is underway. The Wolfson and Bolingbroke to be used to pilot the system. A training programme is underway. Communication of new launch date to be advertised to use the text service to update journey records May This plan states the actions required to meet these savings Communications 6 2 30 Training underway. have arranged site visits to Wolfson and Bolingbroke Email to be drafted for trust wide circulation CLERIC to launch on the 6 Delayed until the 13 to provide more training
No control on GP s booking transport Manager for Transport & Travel December phones not being answered The use of choose and book enables GP s to book patients transport. Formal training is required to advise GP s of the protocol for these. There should be clear information on who patients should call to find out about their transport The receptionists on the desk have other duties such as face to face enquiries and queries from patients, staff and visitors Manager for Transport & Travel to attend GP forums and produce newsletter for GP s on the eligibility for patient transport The Trust and need to provide clear guidance on who patients should call for their transport booking. All correspondence to the patients should contain this information. Install a clear sign on the desk advising visitors that this is the patient transport desk. Provide information to staff and visitors that they should report to the main reception on entering the hospital, when this is not Communications January Mary Kyne GM Facilities 27 October Awaiting the launch of CLERIC on 6 There has been a lot of work on improving patient information. Further work to be undertaken on the contact numbers for transport queries. Sign has been ordered 3
manned go to the Security desk There are contact numbers that are no longer being used Check all contact numbers and terminate those that are redundant /Telecoms 27 October Telephone use reports issued to The receptionists often leave their desks to chase phone queries Reduce the amount of phone calls to the desk (use other communication means) Communicate the correct contact list Trust wide Put in place new procedures as follows: There should always be at least 1 person at the reception desk at all times All telephones queries to be written down and passed to control room for resolution Use headsets Use emails to contact the Control Room to inform when the patient is ready to be collected. Mary Kyne GM Facilities Await new contact list 6 This is available on the CLERIC booking
A function in new CLERIC booking system. system which goes live on the 6 Use electronic bookings to book patients. Trust Patient Transport Lounge The current transport lounge is in need of redesign to provide an improved environment, privacy & Dignity and toilet facilities for patients use Provide a bleep contact for discharge queries The Charitable Foundation has provided funding for refurbishment of the Main Entrance. The design team are redesigning the transport lounge. Main Entrance Design Team 7 October Currently in design stage. Bleep 7512 is now used Mary Kyne sits on the design team and represents patient transport. The new transport lounge will be completely refurbished in an enclosed space with new toilet facilities.