Background On Discharge Service

What is the Discharge Service?

The Discharge Service enables people about to be discharged from the hospital to access third sector services more easily. It gives hospital teams greater confidence about the support arranged for quicker discharge decisions.

How does it work?

Using a secure portal, discharge teams can complete an online referral form for the person. Completing just one online form can create multiple referrals. These are processed directly to the various Local Authority services, health and social care organisations and multiple Third Sector partners using RIVIAM’s Multi-agency Referral Hub where the referrals are managed and coordinated.

Once the referral(s) have been created, discharge teams can log into RIVIAM to access the Discharge dashboard. The Discharge dashboard allows ward staff to see the status of discharge dependent support requested by themselves via the referral form and being provided for a person.

Discharge dependent services are the services that will be required to enable the person to be discharged from the hospital. Users can also use the dashboard to communicate online more easily with the partnering services delivering care.

Why is the service so useful?

For Discharge teams:
The aim of the Discharge Service is to enable Discharge teams to have a clear picture of what’s happening for the person so they can make decisions about a person’s discharge. This digital process creates efficiencies which will free up hospital beds quicker, improves the flow of patients within the hospital and ensures the person has the necessary care and support at home, preventing re-admission. The Discharge Service means users can digitally:

• Complete one online form that can create multiple referrals sent to a variety of partnering Local Authority services, health and social care providers and third sector organisations on RIVIAM.

• Identify and issue referrals for people that require discharge dependent services.

• Quickly identify people where an expected discharge date has elapsed and view the status of referral/s.

• Update the patient's estimated discharge dates and change the patient’s hospital ward, as required.

• View the progress of a referral being managed by a partnering organisation.

• View a timeline of activities being managed by a partnering organisation.

• Communicate with partnering organisations.

For partnering organisations:

For Local Authorities, health and social care providers and third sector organisations, the Discharge Service provides a coordinated, efficient way of supporting people who are clinically ready to be discharged from the hospital but require support at home and access to community services.

Using RIVIAM’s Multi-agency Referral Hub, partnering organisations will be able to connect with the discharge teams, to see patients requiring their services and who are currently in hospital.

They will be able to see when the patient is expected to be discharged, allowing them time to ensure their service is ready and in place to allow the patient to return home. Partnering organisations will have:

• Their own view of the Discharge dashboard to monitor and manage the progress of a referral via RIVIAM Workflow.

• Access a single view of a person's referrals, and manage timelines to progress the referral through to completion. This helps teams to efficiently and effectively coordinate care.

• RIVIAM will automatically update the status of a referral which the discharge teams will be able to monitor and view progress.

Third sector organisations can access RIVIAM as part of a centralised Multi-agency Referral Hub.

RIVIAM Hospital Digital Discharge Service User guide RIVIAM Digital Care © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.