Pair dubbed 'worth their weight in gold' after improving flow of younger patients at Wolverhampton hospital

Angela George and Karen Salter were recently appointed as patient flow co-ordinators at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust on the children’s unit on Ward A21.

Their role is to ensure younger patients needing transfer from the emergency department (ED) for further treatment are transferred as quickly as possible.

Led by Trudi Dowen-Jones, senior sister for the paediatric assessment unit (PAU), the posts were introduced to address challenges around the flow of patients from ED through to PAU and the ward.

Trudi, who was appointed to her new post in May 2022, said: “We decided to look at a bespoke patient flow role tailor-made for paediatrics.

"It proved to be the correct decision as we now have a very clear transfer pathway from ED to the children’s unit that both departments are happy with and the patient flow role has already started to expand.

“Feedback from ED was amazing as it really improved communication and the timely movement of patients.

"Patients are continuously moving between departments and we have a very clear overview of what’s happening and where. The co-ordinators have a grasp of who needs to be moved in to which areas.”

Sarah Blackburn, senior sister in the paediatric emergency department, said: “Their role has been invaluable. They are worth their weight in gold. They’re visible in our department every day and are a key in providing up-to-date information about the activity in each area.

“They have been key in improving not only communication between the two areas, but also the patients’ journey. They are quick to call and let us know if beds or ready or if there are any delays.

“They are always polite and friendly and we consider them as much a part of our team as the team on A21.”

Trudi looked at how neighbouring NHS trusts had successfully adopted this role, spending a day with the paediatric patient flow team at University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNM) before putting a similar plan into practice at RWT.

“It was evident immediately how efficiently this role worked,” added Trudi.

“UHNM described this role as a huge turning point when looking at patient journey.

“We created a bespoke job description and decided to keep the role small with very clear criteria, with the plan to build and expand the role as we saw fit."

Angela and Karen have both won a staff award, the paediatrics ED Star of the Month, which is decided at the regular meeting of paediatric consultants and senior sisters.