This festive season, we want to help as many of our inpatients as possible to get home so they don’t have to spend Christmas in hospital. That’s why we’ve launched Operation ‘Sleigh Bells’.
Over the coming days, inpatient teams at Teddington Memorial and Kingston Hospital will be assessing people’s health and doing everything they can to get them home in time for Christmas.
To do this, we will be using of our new Transfer of Care Hub for Kingston and Richmond, which has been set up to bring together the expertise of community and hospital teams in one place, to facilitate safe and effective transfers of patients into and out of hospital.
We will be working with families and carers to ensure that people who can go home are able to do so safely and with the right support in place, such as transport or additional equipment.
Thomas Edwards, Integrated System Discharge Lead, said:
“It’s important to identify patients now who will be able to go home for Christmas so we can make sure that any care needs are put in place ahead of time. If patients are unable to go home, but don’t need to be in hospital, the Transfer of Care Hub will aim to arrange patient transfers to community
Flyers are available for patients and relatives with more details about the campaign. Please speak to a member of staff to find out what you can do to help get your loved one home this Christmas if safe to do so.
If you have any concerns about yourself or a loved one returning home for Christmas, please let the staff on the ward know.