The daily capacity huddle: improving NICU patient flow

Occupancy is a daily challenge for the neonatal team at Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust (BWNFT) and in order to improve patient flow through the unit, the team has adopted a ‘daily capacity huddle’. The huddle is an opportunity to address current capacity, expected patient flow within the neonatal unit and the TC ward, and any discharges or repatriations. Potential admissions from the delivery suite are discussed as well as planned fetal medicine cases for delivery that day and the out-of-area infants awaiting repat-riation, especially surgical babies from the paediatric intensive care unit.

K Holtermann, J Forknall, P Nyagumbo, B Williams, A Sing, SV Rasiah