Nursing staff were concerned patients could be discharged before they are ready.
An NHS Trust has come under fire for offering NHS workers chocolate “Easter goodies” in return for discharging patients.
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was met with criticism after launching a daily competition where prizes would be given out to the clinical teams that discharged patients the quickest.
In the newsletter, the trust told staff, “The trust has launched a Home for Easter campaign asking colleagues to ensure patients are discharged in a timely way to free up bed space during the Easter period and in preparation of the second junior doctors’ strikes.”
“From Monday, April 3 to Thursday, April 6, a daily competition will run for wards with the best teams for discharges receiving some Easter chocolates each day.”
The competition was met with heavy criticism online and dubbed “in bad taste” by nursing staff who were concerned patients could be discharged before they are ready.
Landed badly.
The trust has since apologised and cancelled the competition, explaining it “can absolutely see why this has landed badly”.
A spokesperson explained, “We shared an internal newsletter on Friday and one of the extracts has led to legitimate concern and upset being expressed. We are truly sorry for the impact of that message.
“We’ve read your comments and understand how this has made you feel, and hold our hands up to say this is our mistake. We are preparing for the forthcoming bank holiday to make sure we continue to respond to the needs of our patients and keep our patients and staff safe.”
They continued, “Discharge decisions are an important part of preparation for a bank holiday period and whilst we had good intentions to get staff talking about the challenges we face, we can absolutely see why this has landed badly.
“We know that incentives have no place in influencing clinical decisions. We understand the concern this has caused and are sorry to our staff and patients who are the heart of PHU.
