Quality standard
Quality statement 5: Admission, discharge and transfer
Quality statement 5: Admission, discharge and transfer
Quality statement
People admitted to, discharged from, or transferred between or within hospitals, have information about any infections and associated treatments shared with health and social care staff to inform their care.
Rationale
Potentially avoidable healthcare‑associated infections can occur when people are admitted to, discharged from or transferred between or within hospitals. Sharing information on current infections, treatment and colonising organisms can result in better care and outcomes for people with, or at risk of, infections and can help to reduce the risk of infections being spread between care settings. A consistent approach to sharing information between health and social care practitioners involved in a patient's care pathway should ensure appropriate ongoing support, and minimise the risk of inappropriate management and transmission of infection. Information should be shared when arrangements are made for a person to move from the care of one organisation to another, or when arrangements are made to move a person within a hospital, while maintaining patient confidentiality and privacy.
Quality measures
The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.
Structure
Evidence of local arrangements to ensure information about any infections and associated treatments for people admitted to, discharged from, or transferred between or within hospitals, is shared with the health and social care staff responsible for the ongoing care.
Data source: Local data collection.
Process
a) Proportion of admissions to hospital, including transfers of patients from other hospitals, where information on infections and associated treatments is received.
Numerator – the number in the denominator where information on infections and associated treatments is received.
Denominator – the number of admissions to hospital of people with infections.
Data source: Local data collection.
b) Proportion of discharges from hospital, including transfers of patients to other hospitals, where information on infections and associated treatments is provided to health and social care staff responsible for ongoing care.
Numerator – the number in the denominator where information on infections and associated treatments is provided.
Denominator – the number of discharges from hospital of people with infections.
Data source: Local data collection.
c) Proportion of transfers of patients within a hospital where information on infections and associated treatments is provided to health care staff responsible for ongoing care.
Numerator – the number in the denominator where information on infections and associated treatments is provided to health care staff responsible for ongoing care.
Denominator – the number of transfers of patients between wards within a hospital.
Data source: Local data collection.
What the quality statement means for different audiences
Service providers (such as hospitals and social care providers) provide information about any infections, colonising organisms and associated treatments when they arrange for a person to be moved into or out of hospital, or between wards, to inform the ongoing care of that person and minimise the risk of transmission. If appropriate, information should also be shared with the providers of transport for a person moving into or out of hospital.
Health and social care practitioners (including hospital clinicians, nursing staff and practitioners in care homes) involved in hospital admission, discharge and transfer ensure that they share information with other healthcare professionals and social care practitioners to manage and support patients with an infection on an ongoing basis during admission, transfer and discharge.
Commissioners ensure that they commission services from health and social care providers that have mechanisms in place to ensure that information about any infections, colonising organisms and associated treatments is shared as part of the transfer process and used to inform the ongoing care of patients admitted to, discharged from or transferred between or within hospitals.
People who are admitted to, discharged from, or transferred between or within hospitals have information about any infections they have and their treatment, and any treatments they are having that include a risk of infection, shared with the health and social care staff responsible for their care.
Source guidance
Healthcare-associated infections: prevention and control. NICE guideline PH36 (2011), quality improvement statement 8
Definitions of terms used in this quality statement
Information about any infections and associated treatments
This includes information sharing to manage and support patients with existing infections – for example, transfer and isolation arrangements for them – during hospital admission, transfer and discharge. Information on infections and treatments being given for existing infections should also be shared with the health and social care practitioners who will be giving the continuing care, along with information relating to the ongoing use of medical devices (such as catheters) where there is a risk of healthcare‑associated infections. [Adapted from NICE's guideline on healthcare-associated infections: prevention and control].