Admission prevention tool updated

A tool that helps prevent emergency hospital re-admissions has been updated to identify nursing interventions more accurately and increase savings.

A tool that helps prevent emergency hospital re-admissions has been updated to identify nursing interventions more accurately and increase savings.

The original computer program, Patients at Risk of Re-hospitalisation (PARR), was commissioned by the Department of Health last year to help PCTs predict which patients are most at risk of needing hospital treatment in the next year.

It has now been updated by its original developers – the King's Fund, Health Dialog UK and New York University – to reflect recent health trends and include more categories of data to reflect patients' future risk of re-admission.

The new version, PARR++, takes into account a range of factors such as frequency of admission, diagnoses and also socio-demographic characteristics of patients.

Natasha Curry, fellow in health policy at the King's Fund said that PARR++ is more flexible than the previous version.

'The new tool allows community matrons to look at individual records over the past three years. Data can be collected on individuals, age groups, or disease categories to assess specific risk scores,' she added.

Currently 5% of patients account for 49% of NHS acute bed days. Patients with long-term conditions such as congestive heart failure, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are frequently and sometimes needlessly admitted to hospital at a cost of around £2,100 per time.

'Providing better care for people with long-term conditions is one of the biggest challenges facing modern healthcare,' said Jennifer Dixon, King's Fund director of policy.

'This software helps PCTs  to identify those patients who could benefit from interventions such as case management by community matrons and telehealth.'

PARR++ is available free to the NHS via download from www.kingsfund.org.uk/parr
or on CD.