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Don't wait for TTA's - Taxi them!

by Christina Harrison | Aug 24, 2022 | in Organisations: discharge challenge | South West

Some patients wait several hours for TTA's if a decision to discharge is made on the same day. In our Trust, to avoid hospital transport delays we can taxi the TTAs. 

Often patients which are unable to sit out of an acute bed require a bed to wait for hospital transport. Given the complexity and unknown time of hospital transport, we would rather a patient was discharged back to their address if hospital transport is ready before TTAs  and so we send their TTAs in a taxi.

The cost of an acute bed far outweighs the cost of a taxi.

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edited on Aug 25, 2022 by Christina Harrison
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Leigh Kendall Aug 25, 2022

Hi Christina, this sounds a sensible idea. It's similar to this idea I posted https://solvingtogether.crowdicity.com/post/3...&forPhase=0 wondering whether instead of TTAs people could have a prescription to be dispensed at a community pharmacy. As someone pointed out in a comment, there's risk inherent in that approach - what if someone doesn't go to their community pharmacy to get the prescription, for whatever reason?

Using taxis would incur risks too - a lot of due diligence would be needed to ensure meds arrive safely at their intended destination and in good time. How is that done at your trust? Does the person being discharged need to be local to the hospital - is there a mileage limit?

Tom Underwood Aug 25, 2022

Great point Leigh, but perhaps there's an opportunity to build that relationship with local taxi companies or even uber! Could help to bring money into the local economy and may even lead to other opportunities for collaboration. It may require extra due diligence or even training for some taxi staff, but again could be helpful in other areas as wider parts of the community can feel involved and engaged in supporting the NHS and local population wellbeing.

Christina Harrison Aug 25, 2022

Within our trust we have a business relationship with a local taxi provider - they also provide a discounted rate for patients/ visitors requiring a taxi from our trust sites. We follow up with a call to the patient or care home provider to ensure all medication has been received and to answer any medication queries.
There is no mileage restriction as such as our patients are from the trust coverage area.
In an ideal world we would prepare TTA's prior to discharge and is all dependant on flow demand.

Zoe Lord Sep 7, 2022

Hi Christina, when I worked in a Trust in a medicines management role (I'm afraid a long while back!), I'm sure we sent meds in taxi's. I cant remember if a member of staff/ volunteer went with the meds or if it was just the meds. Do you know if other organisations doing this?

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Christina Harrison Sep 25, 2022

I dont however local pharmacies deliver medication to those unable to collect. I utilised this service when family had covid and unable to go out and imagine this is really helpful for house bound people. It works really well. Potentially there's a new role here for acute hospital pharmacy deliveries?