What is Red to Green?

Every day a person is in a hospital bed should add value to their care.

The Red to Green approach aims to reduce a patient's length of stay by highlighting non-value adding days and reducing avoidable delays where a patient is kept waiting for things to happen to progress their care.

 

Red - a day of no value

Key questions:

1. Can the patient care or interventions received today be delivered at HOME or in a non-acute setting?  YES - It's a red day.
2. If I saw the patient in an outpatient setting, would their current physiological status require an emergency admission? NO - It's a red day.

• Inadequate MDT presence at the board round to allow firm decisions to be made.
• The care or interventions the patient is receiving today could be delivered in a non-acute setting.
• Tests and investigations have occurred, but the results have not been reviewed by the medical team and acted upon.
• A planned investigation, clinical assessment, discharge assessment or therapy intervention for today does not occur.
• Acute - The medical care plan lacks a senior medic approved expected date of discharge.
• Acute - The patient is a new admission and has not yet had a medical review/there is no initial diagnosis/treatment plan.
• If a patient is due for discharge today and the discharge prescription medications are not ready. (Pathways of care delay.)
• Transport delaying discharge or causing plans to fail today.

 

Green - a day of value

• Patient progresses towards discharge.
• Everything planned and requested is done.
• Patient needs this bed for acute care.
• Everything that was planned for today gets done.
• The patient requires acute hospital care.
• The patient requires community hospital care.
• The results from tests and investigation have been reviewed by the medical team and acted upon.
• The patient is receiving active interventions to get them to be discharged by tomorrow and the discharge prescription medications are ready by the evening before the expected date of discharge.