Improving 7-day working: face-to-face handover

A weekly face-to-face handover meeting was initiated on Friday afternoon in the acute medical unit of an inner city hospital in Birmingham. Data were collected weekly from January until July, with a comparison made following recommendations. Those attending included the weekend ward-cover team: registrar, senior house officer, house officer, acute nurse practitioner, as well as representatives from the medical wards. The meeting was chaired by an acute medicine registrar or consultant. Matters discussed included discharge planning, necessity of investigations and ceilings of care. Attendants were encouraged to use the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) handover template.