PatientFlo – Help patients get out of hospital quicker, and keep them out of hospital

In May 2023, over 10% of all hospital beds in England were blocked by patients who were medically fit for discharge, but could not be discharged. This was due to a lack of a coordinated approach on how the patient would be cared for once they left the hospital. Blocked beds contribute to other patients waiting longer in the emergency department before they are admitted, and in turn, results in longer ambulance handover times in the emergency department, as emergency departments struggle with the volumes of patients. By making discharges efficient with better management and flow of information between organisations, more beds could be made available in a timely manner.

All stakeholders in the discharge process including, hospital coordinators and NHS services, care home facilities, domiciliary care providers, charities and care providers including family members need clear visibility of the patient's current state and aftercare requirements to plan for an effective discharge from the hospital. Many of these stakeholders are either out of the loop of the process or receive incomplete information with large delays trying to get the details they need to plan and provide the services and actions required.

Our project will design a digital solution called PatientFlo incorporating people-centred and system-aware design principles to solve the multidisciplinary problem described above. PatientFlo will provide comprehensive communication and coordination capabilities to manage cross-organisational workflows in the complex discharge process. Enabling the creation of a user-friendly solution, in the form of a mobile app and web-based service with administrator portals, will help coordinate community care services, sending people home or to a care facility from the hospital with improved care services that should reduce readmission rates.

PatientFlo is innovative because it addresses an urgent health problem. It targets an existing process that is manual, paper-based, and reliant on phone communication, digitises the process, making it more efficient and scalable. It aligns well with the current Integrated Care Boards where place-based partnerships will play a major role in improving the health and wellbeing of the population.