Withybush General Hospital, based in Haverfordwest, provides acute care across Pembrokeshire to a population with high numbers of older people. Hospital admissions have been rising steadily for over a decade and there are often delays in discharging older patients, leading to outliers on medical and surgical wards. This has an adverse effect on patient care and leads to increased length of stay and increased morbidity and mortality.
Since joining the Acute Frailty Network (The first Welsh HB to do so), the team has pioneered an ambitious frailty improvement project.
The frailty improvement project was focused on the front door in the Emergency Unit and Acute Clinical Decision Unit (ACDU) as well as ward 12, a 24-bedded acute medical ward specialising in frailty and dementia. The ward comprises 21-26 mixed sex beds. Senior sister on the ward, Lisa Marshall, has completed a Master’s degree in Dementia and Research in Practice and is passionate about advocating improvements in the care of frail patients at Withybush.