2283 Early supported discharge for fragility fractures -collaborative working to deliver responsive high quality patient-centred care

• Published in: Age and ageing 2024-08, Vol.53 (Supplement_3)
• Main Authors: Davies, EK, Beynon-Howells, CJ, Burgess, AJ, Mehta, A, Ng, K, Davies, EA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collaboration; Community; Early discharge; Evaluation; Feedback; Femur; Fractures; Geriatric assessment; Inpatient care; Length of stay; Older people; Patient admissions; Patient-centered care; Patients; Physiotherapy; Same day
• ISSN: 0002-0729; 1468-2834
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afae139.036

Abstract Introduction During 2022, non-femoral fractures that didn’t require operative management had 30 days median inpatient length of stay (LOS) at SBUHB. Femoral fracture patients >65 years had LOS 36 days (GIRFT average 19 days), with 720 admissions. High local incidence is believed to be contributed by historical failures to identify and treat non-femoral fragility fractures. A new service was created from a collective effort to do better for our patients and prevent avoidable harm by breaking down barriers between services and promoting effective collaborative working. Methods A collaboration between the following key services was formed:-. 1. Older Persons Assessment Service (OPAS) -identify fragility fractures presenting to ED 2. Orthogeriatrics -identify suitable femoral fracture patients. 3. Physiotherapy -early assessment and transfer to reablement into the community. 4. Virtual Wards –ongoing CGA and reablement in the community. Additional resource was secured to provide short-term bridging of care and community therapy input. Data was prospectively collected and included demographics, site of fracture, referrer and LOS. Results From March 2023, the service identified 457 patients, 312 (68.7%) Female, median age 86 years. 157 (34.6%) patients had a femoral fracture and 300 (65.4%) were non-femoral fragility fractures, majority identified by OPAS, with 206 (68.7%) being discharged same day. Overall, admission was avoided in 207 (45.3%) patients and 247 (54.6%) had an early discharge/reduced LOS with 3(0.1%) re-admissions avoided. The mean LOS on discharge is 6.6 days with a calculated monthly bed saving of 13.9 days across the service. Conclusion Collaborative working has created an early supported discharge pathway. Femoral fracture patients are discharged earlier, some 3 days post-op, with the necessary support to continue reablement at home. Fragility fractures are identified at the front door and offered same-day discharge with ongoing comprehensive geriatric assessment and reablement within the virtual wards with positive feedback from patients and their families.