A simple red bag improving care for care home residents

Care home residents are benefitting from the ‘red bag’, a dedicated bag that includes all their necessary paperwork, medication and personal items and accompanies them into hospital when they need hospital care. This is having a positive impact on their care and discharge.

When a resident becomes unwell and is assessed as needing hospital care, care home staff pack a dedicated red bag that includes all the resident’s necessary paperwork and their medication, as well as clothes for when they leave hospital and other personal items.

It is a simple change which is proving to have benefits for patients like Patricia.

Patricia, 78, who has dementia, is a resident at The Village Care Home in South Hylton, Sunderland. When she stumbled and bumped her head a care worker from the home accompanied her to A&E.

Patricia finds it hard to explain what had happened or how she was feeling to hospital staff. Thanks to her red bag and the care home staff, who had recorded the changes in her condition, hospital staff knew how to care for her and could help her get better and back home swiftly.

Tracey McCully, from the Village Care Home said:

The Red Bag is a simple idea that makes a big difference.

For us it’s satisfying that we now have a voice and are listened to and for our patients it means they get the care they need quickly and more efficiently.