HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2018: Palliative Care

Winner

Velindre Trust: Improving palliative pathways by developing a rapid access radiographer led service

In 2016, 1,621 patients at Velindre Trust received palliative radiotherapy. But the waiting time between a decision to treat and the start of that treatment varied.

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While treatment was typically received within the accepted targets, timings often didn’t meet best practice targets. Radiotherapy was being delayed by limited resources, including the availability of doctors and radiographers.

The team at Velindre Cancer Centre therefore wanted to develop a rapid access service for palliative radiotherapy. The aim was to reduce waiting times and improve care quality for these patients.

Funding was won from the trust’s service improvement grant scheme to increase the number of sessions available for palliative radiotherapy.

The radiotherapist now attends daily palliative multidisciplinary team meetings, and is able to expedite care for patients who need urgent care. The average lead time for emergency palliative patients has now fallen from 34.2 to 18.5 hours.

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Finalists

Willowbrook Hospice: Improving the management of delirium in a specialist palliative care in patient unit – Highly commended
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust: Palliative care in disguise
Barnsley Hospital Foundation Trust: Norah Newman volunteers – caring for patient safety
North Devon Hospice: Improving our response times to referrals
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust: Improving multiprofessional electronic handover in a specialist palliative care unit
St George’s University Hospitals Foundation Trust: Wandsworth Community Neuro Team – creation of end of life care ’gold pathway’
St Luke’s Hospice: Patient safety and quality framework
The Christie Foundation Trust: Enhanced supportive care