1725 From care home to the emergency department; a snapshot of frailty admissions

Abstract

Abstract Background Care home residents form a large number of admissions to the Emergency Department (ED). Over an 8-month period, care home admissions to ED were reviewed, examining the nature of admissions to inform how to improve current pathways. Method Patients with a frailty score ≥6 (N=180), admitted from 34 care homes to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital ED over 6 months were included. Data was collected from medical and London Ambulance Service (LAS) records. Data collected included; Presenting Complaint (PC), LAS attendance times, prior discussion with a Health Care Professional (HCP), Length of Stay (LOS). Results LAS attendances during normal working hours (9am-5pm Monday- Friday) formed 34% (N=61) of admissions with only 43% (N=26) being discussed with an HCP prior to attendance. Of these, 30% (N=18) were discharged <24hrs and up to 39% (N=7) of these may not have required emergency admission. For all admissions, ‘fall’ was the most common PC, 33% (N=59) followed by ‘respiratory issue’ 21% (N=38). Overall, 24% (N=47) of total admissions were discharged <24hrs but total care home admissions accounted for a total of 454 bed stay days. Factors impacting discharge included COVID status, requiring care home re-assessment prior to discharge and no longer having a bed available. Conclusion This data demonstrates that there is an opportunity to improve care home support and admission pathways. Discussing patients with an HCP prior to contacting LAS may reduce requirement for ED attendance alongside access to rapid response community teams. Expanding an HCP accessible service out of hours (OOH) could facilitate this and implementing a frailty telephone service may also support with this initiative. Collaboration with care homes and community partners will form the next steps in this quality improvement work.