Summary
Delayed transfers of care (DToC) are widely recognised to be a significant cause of unnecessary harm to patients, and potentially avoidable financial costs to the taxpayer.
NHS Improvement’s “Delayed transfer of care (DToC) improvement tool” incorporates the latest data from NHS organisations in an MS Excel spreadsheet. This dashboard tool is designed to help identify the presence of variations in delayed transfers and the underlying factors at work. The tool uses statistical process control (SPC) principles (i) to explore making changes which might have real impact, and (ii) to track progress in system performance or trends in deterioration.
“This tool has been developed to enable trusts, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to understand where delayed transfers of care are in their area or system”.
Reference
Delayed transfer of care improvement tool. [Online]: NHS Improvement, June 2019. Updated September 20th 2019.