SBK Healthcare

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Developing your service knowledge

Practical approaches to improving paediatric flow, discharge and risk management

This interactive online workshop explored realistic approaches to improving paediatric assessment, reducing unnecessary admissions and supporting safer discharge decision-making across pressured services. Key learning outcomes included:

Understanding how risk aversion can contribute to avoidable paediatric admissions
Exploring approaches to safer admission avoidance and timely discharge
Examining how NICE guidance and standardised pathways can reduce variation in decision-making
Strengthening approaches to triage, front-door assessment and rapid discharge
Identifying practical strategies to improve reattendance management and discharge safety netting
Learning from innovative models supporting community-based care and admission avoidance
Exploring how organisations can prepare proactively for winter pressures and seasonal surges
Reflecting on cultural and operational barriers influencing paediatric discharge decisions

Live online learning

Interactive discussions and practical case study learning

This educational online workshop combined presentations, facilitated discussion and practical case study learning exploring current challenges in paediatric admission avoidance and discharge management. On the day, the attendees had the opportunity to:

Join online with paediatric clinicians and urgent care professionals from across the UK
Take part in interactive benchmarking discussions exploring risk management and admission decision-making
Ask questions and gain practical insight from Nathan Griffiths, Consultant Nurse – Paediatric Emergency Medicine Governance Lead
Explore real-world examples of triage redesign, same-day discharge and community-supported care
Reflect on challenges within your own organisation and identify practical improvements you can implement immediately

In-house training

Available as a bespoke course to teams of 25 people or more. Please do contact us if you would like this training delivered exclusively to your team, with the content developed to drill into the specific needs of your service. Please contact:

Sarah Kemm

Production and Partnerships

sarah.kemm@sbk-healthcare.co.uk

9:00	Joining, technical support and workshop instructions
9:30	Workshop leaders’ introduction and workshop objectives Why risk management remains central to admission avoidance and safe discharge Nathan Griffiths, Consultant Nurse - Paediatric Emergency Medicine Governance Lead, Panda Unit, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
Managing Risk and Variation
9:40	Managing risk and reducing unnecessary admissions in paediatrics Understanding how risk aversion influences admission decisions Common drivers of avoidable admissions: febrile children, bronchiolitis, dehydration and reattendance concerns Supporting evidence-based decision-making through NICE guidance and standardised pathways Balancing patient safety, parental reassurance and operational pressures
10:10	Questions and answers with Nathan Griffiths
10:20	Interactive discussion: benchmarking how risk influences decision-making What factors most commonly lead to precautionary admission in your setting? How consistent is paediatric risk assessment across departments and clinicians? Where do teams feel least confident in discharging children safely? What role does organisational culture play in admission avoidance?
10:40	Screen break
Early Decision-Making
10:50	Strengthening triage, assessment and front-door decision-making New approaches to standardized initial assessment and triage Supporting primary care confidence to reduce unnecessary attendances Using established pathways and NICE-based tools to improve consistency Learning from front-door discharge and streaming models developed during the pandemic
11:20	Questions and answers with Nathan Griffiths
11:30	Interactive discussion: benchmarking approaches to same-day discharge and community support How are organisations approaching rapid discharge from paediatric services? What community nursing or virtual ward support is available locally? What barriers limit early supported discharge in paediatrics? How are services managing winter pressures and seasonal surges?
11:50	Case study insights: innovative models supporting admission avoidance Nurse-led triage pathways and direct discharge from assessment Using NHS 111 and pathway-based assessment tools to support decision-making Managing minor illness and injury without unnecessary ED attendance Reducing waiting room pressures while maintaining safe outcomes
12:20	Questions and answers with Nathan Griffiths
12:30	Lunch break
Safe Discharge and Reattendance Management
1:00	Managing reattendance: understanding the impact of safety netting and discharge risk Why reattendance often results in default admission Strengthening discharge risk assessment and safety netting Identifying alternative approaches to managing re-attenders safely Supporting parents and carers with clear advice and escalation guidance
1:30	Building standardised cross-system pathways and supporting parents Learning from the “Healthier Together” model and shared pathway approaches Aligning primary care, paediatric and emergency services around common guidance Improving consistency in discharge advice and risk assessment Reducing parental confusion through unified messaging and support tools
2:00	Questions and answers with Nathan Griffiths
2:10	Screen break
Best Practice Pathways and Future Planning
2:20	Examining successful models for paediatric admission avoidance and discharge What defines best practice in paediatric risk management? Case study: standardized triage and initial assessment pathways Case study: rapid discharge supported by community nursing models Preparing for winter pressures: planning proactively rather than reactively
2:50	Questions and answers with workshop leaders
3:00	Interactive discussion: identifying transferable ideas for change What immediate changes could improve discharge decision-making in your setting? What longer-term cultural changes are needed to reduce avoidable admissions? Developing individual and team action plans
3:20	Close of workshop

The expert workshop leader:

Nathan Griffiths has extensive experience across paediatric emergency care, governance, triage and admission avoidance, supporting services to strengthen risk management approaches and improve safe decision-making across urgent and emergency care pathways.

Nathan Griffiths

Consultant Nurse - Paediatric Emergency Medicine Governance Lead, Panda Unit

Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

Who came?

This workshop offered an opportunity to connect with paediatric urgent and emergency care professionals from across the UK, share experiences and explore practical approaches to strengthening risk management, reducing avoidable admissions and improving discharge decision-making within pressured healthcare systems.

We were joined by the likes of:

Paediatric Emergency Department Clinicians
Advanced Clinical Practitioners
Children’s Nurses
Paediatric Assessment Unit Teams
Paediatric Consultants
Emergency Department Leads
Urgent Care Clinicians
Community Children’s Nursing Teams

If you have a team that is 25 people or more, you can have a bespoke course delivered online to your team alone. Please contact Sarah Kemm or telephone 01732 897788.

Past attendee feedback

Since 2006, SBK Healthcare has delivered interactive online forums and webinars for NHS managers, nurses and clinicians across the UK and Ireland.

Discover what previous attendees have said about their experience.

“The whole day was excellent”

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

“Really well organised. no technical glitches which often make online learning difficult”

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

“Day flowed so well, well done!”

University Hospitals Birmingham

“All topics covered extremely well. A lot to think about and take away to hopefully improve the service our patients receive”

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

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