Solent NHS Trust joins board to improve health care in Portsmouth area

The accident and emergency department at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham

That is the message from Solent NHS Trust as it takes part in a board to improve healthcare in the Portsmouth area.

This week, The News is looking into the organisations which make up the A&E Delivery Board including Portsmouth City Council, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the three clinical commissioning groups in the area.

Solent is part of the board and Sarah Austin, chief operating officer at the trust, said all groups have to look at their roles and play a part.

‘This board is about bringing leaders together so we can take a collective responsibility,’ she said.

‘Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was taking a bit of a battering at one stage and although some of the problems were for them to sort, there was a substantial amount that other organisations could do.

‘For Solent, we look at community care and this board is about getting a single approach so that patient care can be more organised.’

Solent has introduced a new group to Queen Alexandra Hospital called the Frail Interface Team.

The community team, with support from the geriatricians, make sure frail and elderly people arriving at A&E are seen and assessed quickly.

Ms Austin added: ‘We have always tried to get frail and elderly people treated quickly but this team is much bigger.

‘It is about the patients staying in hospital for a short while rather than being admitted and then having to spend time in a hospital bed.

‘We want to make sure they get home safely and get the appropriate care.’

Similar to Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Solent is part of the Discharge to Assess model.

It looks at assessing patients about the next steps of care packages when they are in the comfort of their own home following being discharged.

The model looks to reduce the number of people needlessly staying in hospitals beds waiting for care packages for when they leave.

As previously reported in The News, the A&E Delivery Board has replaced the Systems Resilience Group and clinicians from a range of trusts will look at care provided in the area