Heartbeat: Community care – we’ve got it in the ‘red’ bag!

December 16, 2019

Red Bag Sandwell is an initiative we’ve been using at our workplace for the past year. It’s designed to support care home residents in the local community should they need to visit the hospital in an emergency.

The scheme is very much a result of a positive partnership between our Trust, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Sandwell Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and local care homes. Our holistic approach ensures we’re joined up in the right way. Above all else, it means we’re all striving to achieve the same common goal – the best standard of patient care.

If a care home resident is admitted into hospital urgently they arrive with a red bag along with a detailed health summary. The bag also contains standard paperwork, their medication, personal belongings and remains with the patient until they return to their care home.

What is essentially a simple idea helps those that need medical help often in unexpected circumstances. It provides their personal information in a visible and easy to access bag. Plus, it includes clothes to encourage individuals to get up and dressed once well enough to do so. Overall, this new way of working means that everyone should receive the same safe, coordinated and patient-focused care.

Paula Gardner, Chief Nurse said: “This approach means that everyone that comes into contact with a patient from a care home will know their information. This way of looking after patients means we’re offering a much more personalised level of care.”

Marian Long, Group Head of Nursing added: “The red bag scheme provides a better experience for care home residents by facilitating a smoother handover between care homes, ambulance and hospital staff. It means that there should be fewer phone calls and follow-ups made by hospital staff to care homes requesting health information.

“NHS England reported that the length of stay can also be reduced using the scheme. NHS Sutton CCG found that residents with a red bag spent four days less in hospital than those without a red bag saving £167,000 a year. It also stopped patients losing personal items such as dentures, glasses and hearing aids worth £290,000 in a year.

“We’ve started using the red bag scheme and are seeing encouraging results. Our plea to all colleagues is to use the red bag as intended. Ensure it transfers with each patient throughout their hospital stay and that it returns to their care home with them.”