Winner

East Cheshire Trust: Maintaining patient safety in times of escalation – an organisational approach

When hospitals are under severe operational pressures, the primary burden of work traditionally falls to clinical staff. But with half of its workforce non-clinical, leaders at East Cheshire Trust realised they were missing an opportunity to engage all employees in managing pressures.

Initially, an outreach team was developed within the Patient Advice and Liaison Service. Members of this team proactively visit the wards to speak to patients.

This makes it possible to identify any problems early on, and to take real time action to improve experience. Since the team was introduced, there has been a 29 per cent year on year reduction in ward based complaints.

Following on from this initiative, 30 members of the corporate governance team completed additional training enabling them to assist at meal times during periods of hospital escalation.

Similarly, members of the human resources and finance teams now act as “runners” for accident and emergency, the wards and pharmacy during such periods. A rota is established and, should the trust declare Opel Level 3, they leave their regular work and report to Silver Command to be deployed as needed.

More non-clinical teams are now volunteering to do the same.

To read this entry in full visit HSJ Solutions.

Click here for more details on the HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2018.

Finalists

  • Humber Foundation Trust: Reducing restrictions with positive engagement  –  Highly commended
  • Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust: Human factors – learning from pubs and takeaways, not just airlines
  • Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust: The impact team culture has had on patient and relative experience on an elderly care ward
  • North Bristol Trust: Positive Incident Management System
  • Royal Surrey County Hospital Foundation Trust: ‘Achieving Excellence’ as the ongoing platform for improvement
  • Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust: Safety plan – must dos
  • South Tyneside and Sunderland Healthcare Group: Learning from excellence
  • University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust: The use of learning teams to drive safety improvement by front line staff

 

Topics

HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2018 winners