Page 18 - Proof

Quality improvements
Examples of Quality Improvement initiatives from our teams
Feedback / issue found
Action taken
Radiotherapy
April 2022
• Audits found that the standard of informed consent using site specific consent forms was of higher quality than those of a standard consent form
• The department had a recent issue with a patient who was unhappy with the consent process which highlighted the importance of quality consent
• Occasionally patient have been unhappy with the lasting cosmetic result of having radiotherapy tattoos.
• The Royal College of Radiographers has released a series of standardised consent forms. We are working towards moving all of our consent forms over to these forms in 2022. In doing so we will increase the quality and reduce the risk within consent process / improve patient experience.
• We devised a method in which it was possible to give breast cancer patients the option of having tattoos and how many they received, if any at all. We were able to do this without any new costly equipment and can guarantee accuracy by implementing daily verification imaging. This innovation is now award winning.
Colorectal and Stoma Care
January 2022
• Feedback from our day case colorectal surgical patients identified that pain relief medication provided on discharge was often inadequate
• Stoma care supplies available over the weekend are not sufficient
• We worked with the pharmacy team to create a template prescription with suitable pain relief for these patients. Consultants can sign this prescription on discharge, ensuring patients are sent home with adequate medication. This has significantly reduced the number of follow up calls from patients suffering from pain after discharge.
• We now carry out a top up supply to all our stoma patients every Friday.
Patient Experience
June 2022
• Breakdowns in communication between wards and Tissue Viability were occurring, with delays in providing early intervention upon discovery of pressure sores
• Confusion arising over administering of pain management such as PCAs from instructions left by consultants
• Surgery delays cause prolonged anxiety to patients with a phobia of hospitals / operations
• Plans developed between Tissue Viability Nurses and wards to improve accuracy and timelines of skin assessments, and better tracking of swab results
• Consultants to be more specific when prescribing PCA’s ‘as required’ in future to ensure nurses are aware of expectations that have been given to the patient
• Theatres / consultants have agreed to identify where possible any anxious patients and attempt to accommodate them earlier on lists to manage their concerns.
Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery
January 2022
• Level 2 has had a very busy start to the year as the service continued to support NHS patients
• We have faced challenged with the management of TTO medications for discharge
• Team member and patient feedback identified that removing net sutures could be more comfortable and efficient.
• New staff have joined the team, relieving pressure on existing staff in response to activity increasing.
• Our pharmacist worked with us to create a new process for checking in our patients TTOs so that we can account for receiving them and the patient is provided with the right medication, reducing incidents and complaints
• A new process has been developed for removing net sutures, through soaking them with pontosan. This has made the process more comfortable for the patients.
Medical Devices & EBME team
Staff feedback to the team:
• We don’t know to whom we should report medical equipment problems • We didn’t know how to label faulty medical equipment
• We created a new intranet utility which either allows users to report problems with existing equipment, log requests for new equipment to be tested, or gives contact details for the relevant maintenance provider. Now available on the portal.
• We provided all wards and departments with cards with which to label faulty equipment that also include contact details for the EBME team
18 A more complete kind of care
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