53 Discharge summary (Sight & Sound): are we meeting the GOSH target?

Objective In order to facilitate safe management of complex patients following discharge from GOSH, the Trust Timeline Target is to send all discharge letters within 24 hours. This project aims to assess Sight and Sound Directorate’s compliance with this standard, identify potential causes of non-compliance and implement sustainable change. Methods Retrospective data collection was performed via Epic system. The first audit cycle started in September 2019 and the second was completed in August 2020. Due to suboptimal initial results, areas of weakness were identified and changes were implemented. Audit results and educational materials were disseminated within the directorate to emphasise the importance of timely completion and distribution of discharge letters. Directorate managers worked closely with administrative team and a new administrative role was created to facilitate adequate weekend cover. Results The initial results were worrisome, as none of the departments met the Trust Timeline Target. The percentage of discharge summaries send within 24 hours ranged from 0% to 88.24%, with an average of 54.4% across the departments. The majority of letters were completed in a timely manner, but the summaries of the weekend discharges were rarely sent within 24 hours. Following the implementation of changes, the compliance improved significantly, with the proportion ranging from 69.3% to 100%. Three departments achieved 100% compliance with the standard and the average percentage was 89.5%. Discussion This project demonstrates that Sight and Sound Directorate was initially not meeting the Trust Target for discharge letters. This was mainly due to inadequate administrative staff cover over the weekend. After changing that and high-lightening to our teams the importance of sending discharge summaries within 24 hours, the compliance with the GOSH standard drastically improved. We aim to continue monitoring the situation to ensure that the results we achieved are sustainable.