Bexhill and Battle MP, Huw Merriman, joined Care Minister, Caroline Dineage, at the Parliamentary launch of a new health initiative known as the “Red Bag” scheme.

The Red Bag is a simple initiative which is helping to improve communication between care homes and hospitals at all points of the resident’s journey.

When a resident becomes unwell and is assessed as needing hospital care, care home staff pack a dedicated red bag that includes the resident’s standardised paperwork and their medication, as well as day-of-discharge clothes and other personal items.  It keeps important information about a care home resident's health in one place, easily accessible to ambulance and hospital staff.

This is a simple change which facilitates a smoother handover between care home, ambulance and hospital staff.

Huw said “I was pleased to support the launch of the Red Bag initiative which helps people move between care home and hospital with minimum disruption to their care and enables medical and personal information to be passed on quickly and easily. This highly practical and sensible scheme has already been implemented in some areas where it has been found to reduce hospital stays for patients by an average of 4 days. There are a high number of care homes in Bexhill and Battle whose residents would benefit from this scheme so I shall be working with our local Clinical Commission Groups to see how we can implement and promote the Red Bag locally.”