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Monmouthshire's Got it in the Bag!

A successful initiative by Sutton Clinical Commissioning Group to make the admission into hospital more efficient is being launched today in Monmouthshire. Already in place across many areas of the UK to help improve patient experiences for care home residents who have to go into hospital, the Monmouthshire wide launch of the Red Bag Scheme focuses on when a resident becomes unwell and is assessed as needing hospital care.  Care home staff pack a dedicated red bag that includes all the standardised paperwork and medication, as well as personal items such as glasses, dentures and hearing aids.  The red bag ensures that ambulance and hospital staff can quickly understand a resident’s condition and personal needs – as well as facilitate a smooth transfer when they are ready to be discharged from hospital.  

Evaluation from existing initiatives across the UK has led to the following outcomes:

  • improvement in communication between hospital and care homes
  • reductions in ambulance transfer times and A&E assessment times
  • a decrease in the number of avoidable hospital admissions


Annabelle Holtam, Neighbourhood Care Network (NCN) Lead for South Monmouthshire said  “ This scheme is such a simple concept which encourages all services to work together to improve patient care and experience by providing all care home residents with a red bag which accompanies them during their stay at hospital and is returned  home with them following discharge.  All our care homes signed up to the red bag scheme which launches this week and we look forward to receiving their feedback on patient experiences.   
 
Brian Harries, Neighbourhood Care Network (NCN) lead for North Monmouthshire explains  ‘the bag contains all the medical information the hospital will need to know about the resident and we hope this will help improve a person’s experience of hospital care.  It also eases pressure on hospitals and avoids people becoming delayed when they get readmitted to hospital’.    When a resident is discharged, the ward nurses ensures that all the paperwork is included, such as a discharge summary, medication changes etc.,   delivering person centered care across Monmouthshire.

You can download the following posters to print and display in your area.