NEWS
Safety collaboratives aim to address the leading causes of patient harm By Kat Keogh
@katkeogh
A trust that was taken out of special measures just months ago will take a leading role in a government drive to improve patient safety. Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is part of one of 15 working groups set up across England to tackle the leading causes of avoidable harm to patients. A government-commissioned report published last week found ‘wasteful and expensive’ errors cost the NHS up to £2.5 billion a year. These include drugs errors, post-surgical infections and the cost of litigation. The 15 groups, called patient safety collaboratives, will be made up of hospitals, GP surgeries and academics
who will work together to tackle key safety concerns in their local areas over the next five years. Priorities could include better staff training and introducing new ways of working to reduce pressure ulcers, falls or problems with patient transfers or discharge. Basildon was one of 11 organisations put into special measures in July 2013 following a review into hospitals with higher than expected mortality rates. It was taken out of special measures in June this year after it received a ‘good’ rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The trust is part of a patient safety collaborative covering Essex, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and parts of London. The group’s priorities will be better diagnosis of patients with sepsis
ANTHONY NOLAN TRUST
Specialist post-transplant support Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan has appointed its first post-transplant nurse to improve support for patients who receive a bone marrow donation. Hayley Leonard is the first of three new dedicated specialist nurses the charity is appointing this year. The nurses will be introduced to patients before they are discharged and act as a point of contact and source of advice and support. Ms Leonard is based at the Royal Marsden in London. A second nurse will be based at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne and a third at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and the Christie Hospital, also in Manchester. Ms Leonard said: ‘After a transplant, patients can often feel lost. We are here for them throughout their journey.’
and acute kidney injury, both avoidable but potentially fatal conditions. Basildon director of nursing Diane Sarkar said the trust has already spent the past 18 months training all staff and new starters in how to spot the signs of deteriorating patients, with a particular focus on sepsis. This followed concerns raised by the CQC around the recognition and escalation of deteriorating patients at the trust, and the death of an emergency patient from sepsis. Observation charts are now colour-coded to flag up when a patient’s obs, such as blood pressure, show signs of deterioration, and how to escalate the case for treatment. As a result of this new approach, mortality rates have fallen at the trust and avoidable cardiac arrests have also halved. Ms Sarkar said: ‘We have obviously improved and I am proud of all of our staff, but we are ambitious and want to go from good to outstanding.’ The patient safety collaboratives are one of a package of measures aimed at reducing avoidable harms in the health service.
Understaffing issue
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the NHS could afford to recruit tens of thousands more nurses if mistakes were avoided. Last week he launched a poster campaign to warn staff of the cost of ‘preventable avoidable errors’, including pressure ulcers and falls. But RCN general secretary Peter Carter said nurses were already well aware of the effects of poor care, and understaffing is to blame. He said of the poster campaign: ‘Although these proposals are well-intended, logic suggests you need to invest in additional staff first, and then you will find your short-term investment leads to longer-term savings.’
10 october 22 ::from vol 29 no 8 :: 2014 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 26, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Safety collaboratives aim to address the leading causes of patient harm By Kat Keogh
@katkeogh
A trust that was taken out of special measures just months ago will take a leading role in a government drive to improve patient safety. Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is part of one of 15 working groups set up across England to tackle the leading causes of avoidable harm to patients. A government-commissioned report published last week found ‘wasteful and expensive’ errors cost the NHS up to £2.5 billion a year. These include drugs errors, post-surgical infections and the cost of litigation. The 15 groups, called patient safety collaboratives, will be made up of hospitals, GP surgeries and academics
who will work together to tackle key safety concerns in their local areas over the next five years. Priorities could include better staff training and introducing new ways of working to reduce pressure ulcers, falls or problems with patient transfers or discharge. Basildon was one of 11 organisations put into special measures in July 2013 following a review into hospitals with higher than expected mortality rates. It was taken out of special measures in June this year after it received a ‘good’ rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The trust is part of a patient safety collaborative covering Essex, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and parts of London. The group’s priorities will be better diagnosis of patients with sepsis
ANTHONY NOLAN TRUST
Specialist post-transplant support Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan has appointed its first post-transplant nurse to improve support for patients who receive a bone marrow donation. Hayley Leonard is the first of three new dedicated specialist nurses the charity is appointing this year. The nurses will be introduced to patients before they are discharged and act as a point of contact and source of advice and support. Ms Leonard is based at the Royal Marsden in London. A second nurse will be based at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne and a third at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and the Christie Hospital, also in Manchester. Ms Leonard said: ‘After a transplant, patients can often feel lost. We are here for them throughout their journey.’
and acute kidney injury, both avoidable but potentially fatal conditions. Basildon director of nursing Diane Sarkar said the trust has already spent the past 18 months training all staff and new starters in how to spot the signs of deteriorating patients, with a particular focus on sepsis. This followed concerns raised by the CQC around the recognition and escalation of deteriorating patients at the trust, and the death of an emergency patient from sepsis. Observation charts are now colour-coded to flag up when a patient’s obs, such as blood pressure, show signs of deterioration, and how to escalate the case for treatment. As a result of this new approach, mortality rates have fallen at the trust and avoidable cardiac arrests have also halved. Ms Sarkar said: ‘We have obviously improved and I am proud of all of our staff, but we are ambitious and want to go from good to outstanding.’ The patient safety collaboratives are one of a package of measures aimed at reducing avoidable harms in the health service.
Understaffing issue
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the NHS could afford to recruit tens of thousands more nurses if mistakes were avoided. Last week he launched a poster campaign to warn staff of the cost of ‘preventable avoidable errors’, including pressure ulcers and falls. But RCN general secretary Peter Carter said nurses were already well aware of the effects of poor care, and understaffing is to blame. He said of the poster campaign: ‘Although these proposals are well-intended, logic suggests you need to invest in additional staff first, and then you will find your short-term investment leads to longer-term savings.’
10 october 22 ::from vol 29 no 8 :: 2014 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 26, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
