WALFINCH home care Southampton is involved in a pilot scheme which could help cut hospital discharge delays.
Angela Harding, co-director and registered care manager of Walfinch Southampton, said: “We are one of the care companies offered on a new care co-ordination and support mobile phone app called Myra, which allows people to find home care, equipment and other information that can help speed up their discharge.”
The number of patients ready to leave acute hospitals but delayed reached 13,815 a day in January 2025 according to the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation. The most common reason for delay among patients in hospital for seven days or more was waiting for hospital and care transfer processes (36%). The app aims to speed up the process.
Angela added: “Delayed discharges mean ambulances are stuck outside hospitals waiting for beds to become available, planned treatments have to be cancelled and patients’ health deteriorates, so we were delighted to be involved in this pilot scheme.”
Walfinch Southampton expects to receive care clients from Southampton hospitals through the app, and as a result of being involved in the pilot scheme they can advertise their care services in the hospitals.
As members they can also use the hospitals’ training suites, where the Walfinch care team can train on patient dummies, hospital beds and hoists.
Angela said: “We also advertise that we are piloting the Myra app on our LinkedIn and Facebook posts. It’s a benefit to patients, care providers like us and the NHS.”