Quality standard

Quality statement 1: Information sharing on admission

Quality statement 1: Information sharing on admission

Quality statement

Adults with social care needs who are admitted to hospital have existing care plans shared with the admitting team.

Rationale

Improved communication between community and hospital services leads to a smoother transition. For example, people who are admitted to hospital and their families or carers do not have to keep repeating the same information to different people. It can also improve people's experience of hospital because the admitting team is given a range of information about their needs, wishes and circumstances.

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 that existing care plans for adults with social care needs are shared with the admitting team when they are admitted to hospital.

Data source: Local data collection.

Process

The proportion of adults with social care needs who have existing care plans shared with the admitting team when they are admitted to hospital.

Numerator – the number in the denominator where the person's existing care plans are shared with the admitting team.

Denominator – the number of hospital admissions of adults with social care needs.

Data source: Local data collection.

Outcome

People's experience of hospital admission.

Data source: Local data collection.

What the quality statement means for different audiences

Service providers (such as hospitals, GPs, community services and local authorities) ensure that systems are in place to transfer existing care plans for adults with social care needs to the admitting team when they are admitted to hospital. This may include the use of Summary Care Records, hospital passports or other profiles containing important information about the person's needs and wishes.

Health and social care practitioners (such as care home managers, GPs and social workers) ensure that they share existing care plans with the admitting team when they arrange a hospital admission for adults with social care needs.

Commissioners (clinical commissioning groups, local authorities and NHS England) ensure that they commission services in which adults with social care needs have existing care plans shared with the admitting team when they are admitted to hospital. This may include the use of Summary Care Records, hospital passports or other profiles containing important information about the person's needs and wishes.

Adults with social care needs know that, when they go into hospital, all the necessary information about them will be given to the hospital team.