This toolkit contains resources and key principles to consider for the safe introduction of Criteria Led Discharge (CLD) in the context of planned surgery. However, the key principles could be applied to improve discharge processes and support the introduction of CLD across other clinical cohorts.
The resources included in this toolkit should be used to develop customised processes that consider the unique aspects of each Victorian Health Service. CLD should not replace post operative review by the surgical team or the ability for the patient to ask those present in theatre questions about their surgery.
It is important to note that clinical judgement should always prevail and CLD including the resources within this toolkit are not intended as a replacement.
Application of the toolkit
An overview of the Criteria Led Discharge Toolkit explaining what it is and what the benefits are.
Introduction
Delivering efficient high-quality and safe care for all Victorians involves maintaining optimal flow through the system while enhancing health outcomes and consumer experiences. The discharge and transfer of care processes are key to this, aiming to get patients home as soon as safe and appropriate for them, thus ensuring bed availability for those who need them. Criteria Led Discharge (CLD) is an effective solution which reduces Length of Stay (LOS) and empowers staff and consumers. This tool kit aims to support health services to safely introduce, sustain and spread CLD.
What is CLD?
CLD is a process that empowers a trained member of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) to discharge a patient when they meet pre-agreed clinical criteria. This removes the need for the patient to wait for the Surgeon (e.g. consultant/senior registrar) to approve discharge. CLD should not replace post operative review of the patient by the surgical team or impact the ability of the patient to ask those present in the operating room questions about their surgery. CLD streamlines the discharge/transfer from the beginning of the patient journey. It also empowers and incorporates the patient and family/support person in discharge planning.
Benefits of CLD
CLD can improve:
- the coordination of patient care
- communication across the team, including GP/primary care, patients and carers
- patient flow within wards and across the hospital setting
- consumer experience and outcomes
- length of stay by reducing unnecessary bed days
- effective use of resources
- staff satisfaction.
Successful CLD involves not only discharging suitable patients according to established criteria but also identifying when patients are no longer appropriate for discharge and appropriately escalating their care.
Key principles for safe and effective criteria led discharge
Explains how criteria led discharge empowers patients and families to actively participate in safe, timely discharges.
Consumer involvement
One of the key principles of CLD is including patients, their family and/or support person in the process. Information for patients and families about CLD is essential for successful implementation (ACI 2016).
Patients and their family/support person should:
- Actively participate in discharge planning, which should begin before the day of surgery.
- Be informed about their:
- Estimated Discharge Date (EDD).
- Criteria/milestones that need to be achieved to go home safely.
- Progress towards the discharge criteria/milestones.
- Receive written information outlining the CLD process.
The surgical team should inform the patient, their families or support person they:
- have been selected for CLD.
- may not be reviewed again by a member of the surgical team before discharge.
- will be discharged by a member of the Multidisciplinary Team who has the appropriate training and expertise.
Regular consumer feedback should be sought until CLD is embedded in usual practice and beyond to enable continuous quality improvement.
See the Appendix for examples of the CLD consumer leaflets and visual material for promotion on the ward (NHS 2017; NHS 2019b ACI 2016;NHS 2017).
Discharge policy and governance
A discharge policy must be in place to guide the introduction and governance of CLD. As a minimum, when developing a CLD policy and governance structure, the following needs to be considered:
- The context of your organisation.
- Current discharge policy.
- The processes for selecting suitable patients for CLD.
- Development of clinical criteria for discharge.
- Care pathways e.g: day surgery or Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS).
- Clinical protocols e.g.: escalation pathways for the deteriorating patient.
- Transfer and handover of patients
- Processes for escalating failure to meet discharge criteria/change in estimated discharge date.
- Staff training protocols to ensure ongoing staff competency to perform CLD.
- Discharge documentation requirements for the patient and discharge information for GP, other community providers and specialists.
- Consumer information.
(NHS 2019b)
Governance structures need to be in place to support ongoing continuous improvement during the introduction of CLD and for sustainability long term. This ensures both effective and sustainable CLD processes. See Appendix 2 for an example policy.
Patient selection
Patients should be identified ‘as suitable’ for CLD prior to, or on admission. This will depend on their clinical stability and complexity of their clinical condition. (NHS 2019b).
Generic exceptions to CLD include:
- High-risk patients.
- Patients who are medically unstable.
- Patients who require a medical decision.
- Those waiting to be referred to another specialist.
(NHS 2019b)
Extra consideration about suitability should also be given to patients:
- With inadequate support or safety concerns at home.
- Who require in-depth allied health review.
These patients may still be suitable for CLD but will require additional planning and development of individualised milestones and discharge criteria.
For planned surgery, identifying patients who are suitable for CLD may commence prior to admission, however, this needs to be confirmed post-surgery to ensure that there haven’t been any unexpected surgical complications that could affect suitability for CLD (ACI 2016; NHS 2019b).
Health services that have introduced CLD in planned surgery cohorts have found opt-out systems more effective than opt-in. In the opt-out approach, the surgical team identifies patients who are not suitable and revokes their participation in CLD.
CLD documentation and handover
The CLD plan must be documented in the patient’s medical records. This should include:
-
The EDD should be clearly documented and communicated with the patient and all members of the multidisciplinary team. This should be reviewed regularly and updated as required. Health services introducing CLD have found that documenting the EDD on a patient communication board helps improve communication and discharge planning with patients and their families.
-
The Surgical Team in charge of the patient’s care must document the criteria, including clear clinical parameters, that must be met before a patient can be safely discharged (NHS 2019b; NHS 2019c).
The criteria will be either:
- Group criteria: specific to a group of patients, in accordance with agreed clinical protocols or care pathways. (Suitable for simple planned surgery e.g. day surgery cases).
- Individualised criteria: based on clinical complexity and need (e.g., for patients with multiple complex health needs). Clearly defined and documented by Surgical/Medical team.
- Combination of Group and individualised criteria: based on clinical need (Suitable for most planned surgery procedures and uncomplicated patients).
The approach taken depends on the clinical setting and nature of patient discharge, such as simple or complex discharges (NHS 2019b).
Criteria for planned surgery patients can often be established preadmission, for example in a preadmission clinic, to facilitate discharge planning prior to admission. However, it is crucial to review and adjust these criteria as necessary after surgery.
When establishing “minimal group criteria” for a patient cohort, all relevant parties, including all craft groups and consumers, must collaborate. The specific groups involved will depend on the clinical setting and patient cohort. (NHS, 2017)
Examples of CLD documentation and criteria for discharge can be found at Appendix 3
-
It is important to provide information to the patient and their family/support person that will support their transition to home.
Information should include:
- Medication plan.
- What is expected post-surgery.
- What the patient can do to relieve symptoms.
- When and where to seek help.
- Any changes to the patient routine e.g. mobility restrictions or diet changes.
- Follow up appointments and where to go for more information.
This should be provided in plain language and explained to the patient. Appendix 4 provides a template that can be adapted to meet local needs.
-
Effective communication is vital for ensuring safe and high-quality care (ACSQHC 2023). To enhance care continuity and reduce readmission risks, patients should receive a printed discharge summary before leaving hospital. Additionally, a comprehensive summary should be sent to the GP, primary care providers, and other involved specialists within 48 hours.
For planned surgery patients this should include:
- Postoperative thromboembolism prevention plan.
- Medicines on discharge including duration and plan for restarting paused medications. A downloadable interactive medicines recorded for consumers can be found at Resources | Safer Care
- Ceased medicines including reason for ceasing.
- Clinical recommendations (this should include any follow-up care required and who is responsible e.g: wound review/removal of sutures etc, follow-up of pending results).
- Follow-up appointments – when, where and with whom? Who is responsible for booking them.
- Selected investigation results.
- Any limitations the patient has e.g. movement/mobility restrictions.
- When and where to seek support if a complication occurs.
(ACSQHC 2017)
Sometimes, a written discharge summary isn't enough. For instance, if a patient was unable to be discharged using CLD due to medical
complications needing extra support from the primary care team, a more detailed handover might be necessary. This could involve a phone call to the GP.
To ensure the discharge summary is sent to the correct person it is important to confirm GP and/or other provider details with the patient upon admission.
Please review the National Guidelines for On-Screen Presentation of Discharge Summaries | Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health for further information about discharge summaries.
Systems to monitor and escalate care
Internal procedures for escalating clinical concerns are essential for safe and effective CLD (NHS 2017). EDD and the progress of the patient against the discharge criteria should be reviewed daily. If the patient becomes medically unstable or unsuitable for CLD, a clear escalation process to the surgical/medical team should be followed and clearly documented. CLD thrives in a truly multidisciplinary team environment. The use of regular multidisciplinary team meetings/huddles to keep all relevant staff informed of the patient’s wishes and progress towards their discharge criteria and EDD helps to ensure patients remain on track to achieve their milestones and offers the opportunity to escalate any concerns (NHS 2017). Staff conducting CLD need to know how and whom to escalate any concerns about the patient’s actual suitability for discharge
Education and training
Involving frontline staff from the onset of CLD introduction facilitates effective planning, education, and training. Tailored training by experienced practitioners, supported by senior clinicians, is crucial for safe effective CLD.
Training to undertake CLD needs to be service or setting specific and contingent on the individual experience and expertise of the registered practitioner (NHS 2019b).
Upon completion of training, a CLD-trained multidisciplinary team member should be able to:
- Locate and read CLD protocol/policy.
- Discuss the benefits of CLD for:
- The patient, their family/support person
- All staff
- The organisation
- Discuss the expectations of the health professional within the CLD process.
- Discuss the required authorisation from surgical/medical team for CLD to occur and identify where this required information is documented.
- Discuss the surgical review requirements for a patient on a CLD pathway, including escalation of care considerations. This should include a discussion of when a patient may not be suitable for CLD or when the EDD may change.
- Demonstrate discussion with the patient, their family/support person explaining the CLD process.
- Highlight some of the issues that may need addressing when discharging a patient via CLD.
- Discuss the discharge follow up required and how this is arranged.
(NHS 2019b)
An example of a staff competency worksheet and an example of staff promotional material are available in Appendix 5.
Introducing CLD into your local setting
An overview of the process and considerations to introduce Criteria Led Discharge.
Assess readiness
In healthcare, where change fatigue is common due to numerous competing priorities, assessing environmental readiness is crucial for successful change management. A readiness assessment (see Appendix 6) can help teams prepare and create action plans for effective CLD implementation (ACI 2016
Create a team to champion change
Establishing a team to support the change is essential for success. This includes establishing clear decision-making processes and escalation pathways if any issues occur within the project. Securing financial and professional support is crucial for ensuring the required levels of staffing and resources needed for implementation are met. Engagement and Sponsorship at all levels is essential (Implementation Management Associates Inc 2008). Health services who have implemented CLD recommend including the following people:
| Steering Committee- Monthly meetings | Improvement team – Weekly meetings |
|---|---|
Executive sponsor
| Project lead
|
Clinical lead
| Multidisciplinary team
|
Area leaders
| Quality improvement support
|
Other members to consider for steering committee or improvement team depending on local needs:
- IT eg: electronic medical record (EMR) administrator to support the integration into EMR
- Data expert, support the team in collecting and analysing data
- Policy or forms owners/administrators. To support the required changes to policy and documentation
Appendix 7 provides an example terms of reference and Appendix includes business case tips and tricks to gain executive support
Understanding current state
To successfully introduce CLD, the first step is to understand your current state from different perspectives, the opportunities for change and to prioritise which procedures or patients are most suitable. A gap analysis (including process mapping and collecting baseline data) will help paint a picture of the current state and enable the team to identify areas for improvement. Appendix 9 provides a gap analysis template that can help your team conduct a gap analysis, plan and prioritise change ideas.
Process design
Integration with the usual discharge process is essential for long-term sustainability of CLD.
The CLD process will involve elements of the usual discharge process including:
- Patient information and involvement in their discharge planning.
- Estimated Discharge Date (EDD), including regular review of progress towards the EDD throughout the admission and adjusting as required.
- Completing all discharge documentation.
- Ordering discharge medications, ensuring they are adjusted and validated by a pharmacist.
- Confirming the correct details of the patient’s GP to ensure the discharge summaries are sent to the right person.
- Completing the discharge summary for the patient’s GP or other care provider in a timely manner ideally on discharge or within 48hrs; arranging follow-up, including outpatient appointments and further investigations.
- Arranging referrals and ongoing care at home or intermediate care
(NHS 2019b)
As you introduce CLD you may find you need to review some of the usual discharge practices to ensure they are efficient to support CLD. These improvements may also help streamline discharge processes for patients who are not deemed suitable for CLD.
Test changes
Testing is crucial for sustainable improvement as it allows for gradual adjustments based on real-time feedback, leading to refined processes and documentation over time.
- Start small: Test new processes on one ward, patient cohort, individual patient or specific procedure.
- Test and refine processes using, Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles to test changes systematically ensuring that new processes are effective. Demonstrating the success of CLD through PDSA cycles fosters belief and commitment among the Multidisciplinary Team.
Implementation scale and spread
Once you have tested changes and are happy changes are producing the desired outcomes it is time to make the changes business as usual.
- Have steering committee sign-off for formal implementation and scale of successful changes.
- Update local protocols to include new CLD processes.
- Spread CLD to other areas, little by little, using data and the story of your improvement to get others onboard.
- Celebrate your successes and keep momentum going. Tell others about what you are doing and spread the word of CLD.
Appendix 10 contains an introducing of CLD into your local area checklist with a step-by-step guide including tools and resources.
Assess outcomes
Monitoring and evaluation play a vital role in quality improvement initiatives. Collecting and monitoring data is essential to ensure that any change leads to improvement, and that these improvements are sustained while achieving the desired outcomes. Collecting baseline data is essential to accurately evaluate and measure change (ACI 2016). Alongside the family of measures, it is also important to collect demographic data such as gender and cultural background e.g. Aboriginal or Torres strait islander or CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse), to ensure health interventions are equitable. It allows health providers and policymakers to identify and address disparities that certain groups may face, ensuring that healthcare services are accessible and tailored to diverse needs. Appendix 11 provides a detailed measurement framework including measurement definitions and collection tips.
CLD recommended Family of Measures
Essential measures
| Outcome | Process | Balancing/check |
| Length of stay | % of patients discharged using CLD | Readmissions to hospital by any avenue (e.g. Via ED, direct admit, outpatients) at 48hrs and 28 days |
| Consumer experience (see example questions) | Representations to ED and why at 48hrs and 28 days | |
| Staff experience (for example questions) |
Optional measures: choose measures that are relevant to your local aim and objectives
| Outcome | Process | Balancing/check |
| Time of discharge (with the view of increasing to pre-10am discharges or pre-midday discharges) | Estimated date of discharge recorded in agreed place | % of patients who have a completed discharge summary on discharge or within 48hrs of discharge |
| Number or percentage of weekend discharges/transfers | GP satisfaction with information provided within the discharge summary and timeliness or receipt of discharge summary | |
| Other process measures defined by local health services/sites to measure the effectiveness of new processes |
Example staff experience questions
| No. | Question | Answer |
| 1 | I would feel safe being treated (at my hospital) as a patient using criteria led discharge | Agree Strongly Agree Slightly Neutral Disagree Slightly Disagree Strongly |
| 2 | I involve the patient/family in developing a care plan | |
| 3 | I update a patient’s estimated date of discharge on admission and throughout the hospital stay | |
| 4 | I know the proper channels to escalate concerns about a discharge plan | |
| 5 | I safely communicate the patient criteria-led discharge plan using the appropriate documentation | |
| 6 | I have the support and resources I need to safely discharge my patient using Criteria-led discharge |
Example consumer experience questions Adapted from ACI 2016
| No. | Question | Answer |
| Admission | ||
| 1 | I know the date I am expected to be discharge from hospital | Yes/Unsure/No |
| 2 | I am aware of the criteria I need to meet before I am discharged from hospital | |
| 3 | I know who to ask if I have questions about my plan of care | Always Mostly Sometimes Rarely Never |
| Discharge | ||
| 4 | I received daily updates about my progress (for multi day patients) | Always Mostly Sometimes Rarely Never |
| 5 | I was involved in the development of my discharge plan | |
| 6 | I know when and where I need to attend for further follow up | Yes/Unsure/No |
| 7 | I understand my medication plan e.g., knowing what medications to take and for how long | |
| 8 | I know what changes were made to my previous medications e.g. medications stopped or a dose changed | |
| Follow-up after discharge | ||
| 9 | I was readmitted to hospital for a complication or concern | Yes/Unsure/No |
| 10 | I presented to an emergency department for a complication or a concern | |
| 11 | I had to see my GP urgently after I was discharged for a complication or concern | |
| 12 | I was satisfied with my criteria led discharge experience | |
These are sample questions. Select questions that match existing patient surveys and organisational needs. Also consider a free text section for qualitative data e.g other comments
Resource requirements for safe introduction
An overview of the resource considerations needed to implement Criteria Led Discharge
Resourcing
Health services who have introduced CLD into planned surgery cohorts recommend the following as required resources:
- Allocated project lead with a minimum EFT of 0.3 (12 hrs per week), for larger health services or when introducing to multiple cohorts simultaneously a full time EFT would be recommended.
- Allocated protected project time, to allow for collaboration outside of usual work, this could look like project team days.
- Active support of an executive sponsor, who meet with the project lead regularly and promote the project as a key priority for the health service.
- Access to health record data and statewide dashboards such as the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) surgical quality and safety dashboard for monitoring representation and readmissions to any hospital. Access for the surgical quality and safety dashboard can be requested through (support@vahi.vic.gov.au).
- Education team support. To assist with developing staff education and awareness programs during introduction and long-term training plans for sustainability.
- Clinical leadership from chosen surgical cohort. Consultant or senior register involvement has shown to increase efficiency and success in the introduction of CLD with local settings.
- Opportunities to collaborate with other health services to share ideas and reduce workload.
Timeline
This timeline is based on the provision of the resourcing outlined above. Health services who have previously introduced CLD predict without protected project time and adequate executive sponsor support, introduction will take significantly longer.
Glossary and acronyms
A comprehensive list of key terms and acronyms, along with their definitions, used in the Criteria Led Discharge Toolkit.
Glossary
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Admission | The process whereby the hospital accepts responsibility for the patient’s care and/or treatment. Admission follows a clinical decision based upon specified criteria that a patient requires same-day or overnight care or treatment. |
| Patient flow | Patient flow is the movement of patients through a hospital-from admission to discharge. Addressing the cause of bottlenecks in patient flow and matching resources to each patient helps make sure they get the right care, at the right time and in the right place. |
| Consumer | Consumers include people, families, carers and communities who are current or potential users of health services. Different health settings use terms such as: patients, people/persons, families, carers, clients and residents. |
| CLD-trained | A member of the multidisciplinary team who has attended training on the principles of CLD and is skilled to discharge a patient once they have met their clinical criteria for discharge. |
| Criteria | The collection of individual milestones |
| Discharge | Within this tool kit discharge refers to discharge from an acute inpatient setting. This can include discharge or transfer of care to hospital in the home (HITH), Better @ home services, transfer to another hospital or inpatient rehabilitation service. |
| Milestone | A task or achievement that needs to be met to be eligible for discharge. Milestones may be a mix of physical (medical requirements), psychological or social measures. |
| Multidisciplinary team | A Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) is a group of professionals from various disciplines who collaborate to provide comprehensive care for patients. These teams bring together the unique skills and expertise of each member, ultimately resulting in improved patient outcomes. |
| Planned surgery | Also known as elective surgery. Refers to planned surgical procedures that can be booked in advance. This is different from emergency surgery which is unplanned. |
| Support person | A person who provides support to the patient throughout their surgical journey. Different health settings may use terms such as carer or friend. |
| Transfer/ Handover of care | Involves the transfer of professional responsibility and accountability for some or all aspects of care for a patient to another person or professional group on a temporary or permanent basis. The transfer of care process plays a central role in enhancing patient outcomes, reducing readmission, improving hospital efficiency, and improving patient flow through health services. |
Acronyms
| Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|
| CALD | Culturally and Linguistically Diverse |
| CCD | Clinical Criteria for Discharge |
| CLD | Criteria Led Discharge |
| ED | Emergency Department |
| EDD | Estimated Date of Discharge |
| EMR | Electronic Medical Record |
| ERAS | Enhanced Recovery After Surgery |
| GP | General Practitioner |
| LOS | Length of Stay |
| MDT | Multidisciplinary Team |
| HITH | Hospital in the Home |
References
A comprehensive list of key references to information that supports Criteria Led Discharge.
Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) (2014) ACI Aged Health Network Key Principles for Care of Confused Hospitalised Older
ACI (2016) ‘Toolkit, Criteria Led Discharge: A resource to support implementation of . (Accessed 9 March 2023)
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) (2017), National Guidelines for On-Screen Presentation of Discharge ,
ACSQHC (2023) Communicating for . (Accessed January 2nd 2024)
Implementation Management Associates Inc. (2008) Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) A practical guide to change project management. Colorado
National Health Service (NHS) (2019a) A managers guide to Criteria-Led (Accessed: 10 October 2023)
NHS (2019b) Guidance for writing a criteria-led discharge (Accessed: 10 October 2023)
NHS. (2019c) Ten steps to implementing criteria-led (Accessed: 10 October 2023)
NHS (2017) A guide to developing criteria-led . (Accessed: 10 October 2023)
NSW Health (2011) Care Co-ordination: Planning from Admission to Transfer of Care in NSW Public - PD2011_015. 2011. Available at: (Accessed:10 December 2023)
Additional references
Bowen A et al (2014) Nurse-led discharge: improving efficiency, safely Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 19(I2): 110-116
Cundy T (2016) Fast-track surgery for uncomplicated appendicitis in children: a matched case-control study. ANZ Journal of Surgery. 87(4): 271-276
Dalia A and Hayat M (2017) Nurse-led discharge in Saudi Arabia: a thematic investigation of the literature. EC Nutrition 9(4): 188-195
Gibbens C (2010) Nurse facilitated discharge for children and their families. Paediatric Care 22(1): 14-18
Gotz-Thompson A. et al (2014) Developing and evaluating nurse-led discharge in acute medicine. Acute Medicine Journal 13(4): 149-194
Graham L et al. (2012) Evaluation of nurse-led discharge following laparoscopic surgery. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 18(1): 19-24
Gray et al (2016) Nurse-initiated and criteria-led discharge from hospital for children and young people. Nursing Children and Young People 28(8) pp.26-29
Kasthuri R et al (2007) Day-case peripheral angioplasty using nurse led admission, discharge and follow up procedures: arterial closure devices are not necessary Clinical Radiology 62:1202-1205
Lawton L (2012) Development of guidelines for nurse-led discharge of children presenting with toxic ingestion Emergency Nurse 20(7): 27-29
Lees L (2011) Implementing nurse-led discharge. Nursing Times 107(39): 18-20
Maher P (2014) Same-day discharge after angioplasty for peripheral vascular disease: is it a safe and feasible option? Journal of Vascular Nursing V32: 119-124
Mansbach J et al (2015) Hospital course and discharge criteria for children hospitalised with bronchiolitis, Journal of Hospital Medicine 10(4): 205-211
Robins GG. Et al (2007) Evaluation of the need for endoscopy to identify low-risk patients presenting with an upper gastrointestinal bleed suitable for early discharge. Postgraduate Medical Journal 83: 768-772
uhnOpenLab (2019) Patient Oriented Discharge Summary (Accessed: 10 December 2023)
Webster J, Connolly A et al (2011) The effectiveness of protocol drive, nurse- initiated discharge in a 23-h post surgical ward: a randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Nursing Studies 48(10): 1173-1179
Appendices
Key documents referenced in the Criteria Led Discharge Toolkit.
Appendix 1 - Example consumer information
Examples from Victorian health services of consumer information products explaining Criteria Led Discharge – images only, not interactive documents.
Appendix 2 - Example CLD policy and procedure
Examples from Victorian health services of Criteria Led Discharge policy and procedure documents – images only, not interactive documents - images only, not interactive documents.
Appendix 3 - Example documentation
Examples from Victorian health services of Criteria Led Discharge patient forms related to surgery - images only, not interactive documents.
Appendix 4 - Patient transition to home plan template
This resource was developed by University Health Network Openlab (Canada) as part of Patient Oriented Discharge Summary (PODS) - image only, not an interactive document
Appendix 5 - Staff resources
Example of Criteria Led Discharge competency worksheet for staff (this is an interactive document) produced by the Agency for Clinical Innovation (NSW), with supporting examples (images only) of staff promotional products by Grampians Region Health Service Partnership.
Appendix 6 - Organisation Readiness Checklist
An interactive checklist to support organisations with ensuring their readiness to implement Criteria Led Discharge. Adapted from the Institute of Health Improvement (USA) and National Patient Safety Foundation (USA) together for safer care Organizational Readiness checklist
Appendix 7 - Steering committee Terms of Reference example and template
An interactive template to support the creation of Terms of Reference for Criteria Led Discharge steering committees within health services.
Appendix 8 - Tips and Tricks for Building a Case for Change
This interactive template provides guidance as to how to build a case for change in order to implement Criteria Led Discharge. This document should act as a supplementary resource when completing your organisation's business case template.
Appendix 9 - Gap analysis template
This interactive template can be used to identify areas of consideration and gaps when implementing Criteria Led Discharge
Appendix 10 - Introducing CLD checklist
This interactive checklist will support with ensuring that health services have considered all necessary components to implementing Criteria Led Discharge
Appendix 11 - CLD Measurement guide
This resource explains why baseline data is important, suggested family of measures and there definitions and tips on collecting data to ascertain whether any changes introduced result in an improvement once Criteria Led Discharge is implemented.
Appendix 12 - How to process map
This resource explains what process mapping is and can be used to determine how Criteria Led Discharge can be implemented within a health service – images only, not interactive an document.
Acknowledgements
The services that have informed and supported the development of the Criteria Led Discharge Toolkit.
We would like to acknowledge the NSW Agency for Clinical and National Health (United Kingdom) for their previous work in the Criteria Led Discharge, which served as a foundation for this toolkit.
We would like to acknowledge the health services who played a pivotal role in piloting and customising this toolkit for planned surgery in Victoria. Their invaluable contributions and expertise have not only shaped this resource but have also enhanced it with the example documents found within the appendices.
- Bass Coast Health
- Bendigo Health
- Central Gippsland Health Service
- Gippsland Health Service Partnership
- Grampians Health
- Latrobe regional Health
- Peninsula Health
- Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- South West Healthcare
- St Vincents Health
Reviewed 01 November 2024