Transfers of care
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About this toolkit

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Getting to grips with the standard

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Getting people on board

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Taking stock and planning

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Putting the standard into practice

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Shared resources and learning

About this toolkit

High volumes of patients are transferred every day between health and care settings. Whilst efforts have have been made over several years to improve this process through the implementation of standards and the sharing of digital information, there is more to be done.

Whole system improvements are required and significant further progress can be made to improve the quality and consistency of data shared between organisations. The PRSB has published a number of standards that support the transfer of care of patients between settings. 

This toolkit concentrates on the PRSB eDischarge Summary Standard, which specifies the data to be shared between secondary and primary care to support the discharge of a patient from hospitals across the UK. This toolkit does not propose a one-size-fits-all approach and recognises that health and care services are organised in different ways across the UK.

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Explaining transfers of care

Find out what we mean by transfers of care in our two short videos.
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What do we mean by transfers of care?
What do we mean by transfers of care?
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What would be a good transfer of care?
What would be a good transfer of care?

Who is the toolkit for?

The toolkit is designed to support health and care systems, including provider organisations and system suppliers, to achieve successful implementation of the eDischarge Summary Standard. 

When information standards are used correctly, the information is recorded in a standardised way making it easier to share between digital systems. This means it can be made available to all health and care professionals involved in the care of the person being discharged from hospital. 

The following are all professionals that may have an interest in this toolkit;

Health and care professionals

Transformation
 leads

Commissioners

Project and programme managers

Digital leaders

 

Digital system and medtech suppliers

Technical staff

Information and data quality champions

How will it help?

This standard will help to:

  • Improve patient safety and patient outcomes.
  • Reduce medication errors at discharge and at admission.
  • Improve operational efficiency and reduce the administrative burden on professionals.
  • Improve the clinical user experience by describing what information should be recorded to support the transfer of a patient between health and care organisations.
  • Ensure that the content and layout of discharge summaries are consistent and understandable.
  • Improve the collaboration between primary and secondary care to deliver excellent transfers of care.
  • Model information within secondary and primary care electronic patient record systems.
  • Map data to interoperability standards such as FHIR UK Core to support interoperability and sharing of data with other settings and systems.
  • Improve the patient experience by describing the information to be displayed in a copy of the discharge summary for the patient.

The toolkit is divided into sections that address each stage of a project tasked with the implementation of an information standard.

Depending on your role in the project, you may find certain sections more relevant to your needs. 

It is expected that successful implementation may require an iterative approach, which may mean working through sections of the toolkit in parallel rather than strictly in sequence. 

The sections of the toolkit are:

Describes the standard, how and when to use it . This section is useful for clinical digital information leads, health and care professionals, commissioners, transformation managers and leaders, technical staff and IT leads as well as system suppliers.

Sets out how to create a vision, enlist leaders and build a multi-organisational team to deliver change and its benefits. Transformation managers, project managers, digital leaders and champions may find this section particularly useful.

Describes how to baseline the current position and design a roadmap for the change programme. This section is particularly relevant to project managers, transformation managers, commissioners, technical staff and digital leaders and champions, though others may also find it useful.

Sets out how to commission the changes, address training needs, ensure standards meet safety requirements and plan an evaluation programme. This section is useful for commissioners, transformation and project managers, as well as health and care professionals, digital leaders and champions.

Features case studies, lessons learned, resources, links and details of how to join communities of interest. Users could include anyone involved in the change management project.

Before you start

Before you get started you may want to read our webpages, which explain the content and purpose of our standards.

  • Standards explained
    These pages describe what information record standards are, why they are needed, and how they support better care.

 

Successful transformational change

To succeed, transformation programmes need to be built on strong foundations with clear goals in mind, the right leadership and an engaged coalition of staff and stakeholders. Done well, they result in new, more efficient and effective ways of working that deliver better services and care. As such, they require planning, committed leaders and project management.

If you’re adopting this standard, it may be useful to think of doing so in terms of a change management approach. This toolkit presumes that your organisation and partners in the local health and care economy will have processes and people in place who can support the change management programme. 

To find out more, please visit our section about the transformational change process.

PRSB Standards Explained

Why we need standards to record our health and care information in a consistent way so that it can be made available whenever it is needed.

Making change happen

Transformation programmes need clear goals, the right leadership and engaged staff and stakeholders. Get started by reading our information on transformational change.

PRSB Support Available

If you have a question for PRSB, please contact our support team. We have an expert team who can help you find the answer, or direct you to the right place.