Job Title: Head of Access and Patient Flow Reference No: ***********) Department / Directorate: COO Directorate Reports to: Chief Operations Officer or Designate Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) is a model 4, voluntary, academic teaching hospital partnered with Trinity College and situated in south west Dublin.
With a staff of over 4,000 people from 63 different countries, it provides both acute and tertiary care to an increasing population of circa 800,000 people and is a provider of local, regional and national specialties.
It is also a National Urology Centre, the second largest provider of dialysis services in the country, Pelvic and Acetabulum National Centre and a designated Trauma Unit.
The Hospital is part of the newly established HSE Dublin It is the responsibility of all staff employed by TUH to be aware of their roles and responsibilities under the legislation and to complete mandatory Children First Training.
PARTICULARS OF OFFICE
1. The appointment is whole time, permanent and pensionable.
2. Remuneration: Remuneration is in accordance with the salary scale approved by the Department of Health including identification of key resources and ICT systems required.
Ensure engagement and co-operation of multi-disciplinary team as required.
Interacts and collaborates with Medical and Nursing staff to identify upcoming discharges, admissions, and transfers on an ongoing basis.
Interacts and collaborates with Medical and Nursing staff to triage and secure appropriate adult ICU beds and adult inpatient beds.
Coordinates with the Patient Flow team, to develop and gain efficient systems to maximize access to TUH.
Works diligently with the patient flow team to support timely access to appropriate TUH beds where necessary.
Communicates with patient flow team regarding the prioritizing of bed requests and ensure clinical appropriateness of allocations.
Attends bed management meetings and coordinates information shared to maximize efficient patient flow.
Facilitates all transfers/direct admissions to ensure appropriateness of admissions, in relation to the most appropriate level of care, bed availability and timeliness of transfers.
Communicates with the Emergency Department Managers and Emergency Department ADON and Admitted CNM 11 regarding bed availability and ensuring adherence to transfer times.
Recommends system changes based on data themes.
Studies themes or trends in data overtime to adjust systems to maximal efficiencies and report results to the Unscheduled Care Committee as requested.
To operationally oversee and take the necessary actions in the day to day management of admissions and discharges through patient flow to meet both HSE and local targets.
Maximise 'Throughput' and ensure optimal LOS.
Chair/ Attend weekly LOS meetings.
Oversight and communication with Bed Managers to ensure the timely allocation and transfer of patients to vacant beds.
Have a good knowledge of the Visual Hospital/Planned Patient Pathway Boards and the utilisation of a transparent visual system of bed management and discharge planning.
Have detailed understanding of the Long Term Care, Delayed and Complex discharge processes and be aware of the national targets which must be adhered to.
Incorporate action plans to ensure DTOC KPIs are met.
Oversee and be proactive in monitoring all patients on the Delayed Transfer of Care (DTOC) portal ensuring a discharge plan is in place for each patient both on TUH and Tymon sites.
Oversee and monitor the activity of step-down/rehab beds to ensure maximum utilisation of external facilities.
Instigate and co-ordinate the actions required, to ensure timely admission and discharge to prevent patients being delayed.
To contribute to the development of operational and strategic plans in the Hospital to ensure that agreed objectives are implemented and quality of standards maintained.
Develop and strengthen links with community services to identify patients who can safely continue treatment and care outside of acute setting.
Attend and chair community/offsite meetings as required.
Attend and chair daily operational and offsite huddles within the patient flow department.
Review inclusion/exclusion criteria with offsite facilities and update accordingly in a bid to meet service needs of TUH.
Provide staff management, supervision, support and teaching when necessary.
Ensure CORE is reviewed and updated daily as required.
Monitor skill mix of staff when approving annual leave etc.
Monitor all staff mandatory training and ensure training matrix for the patient flow department is updated and maintained at all times.
Cross cover service as required when staff on annual/unexpected leave.
May perform other job related duties as required or assigned.
Managing Change - Problem Solving between teams, conflicting parties and to persuade others to create a culture of trust and honesty.
Takes into account others when making an important decision, addresses team conflict, sets clear goals, embraces diversity, and promotes collaboration and team strengths to achieve goals.
Offers recognition.
Managing Yourself - Team player / Planning