“There’s No Place Like Home”: Reducing Paediatric Discharge Steps

It is widely acknowledged that the traditional system of using the hospital dispensary for completion of a patient’s discharge prescription is a “time consuming and inefficient process”. In Antrim Area Hospital, the majority of discharge prescriptions are completed at ward level. Ward level dispensing has helped to expedite the discharge process thus making beds available at an earlier stage. Discharge prescription turnaround time was decreased by 72% when completed at ward level. Only 57% of discharges completed in the dispensary met a standard turnaround time of 60 minutes compared to 100% completed at ward level.