QI at LTHT

Achieving better healthcare at LTHT

At LTHT, we are committed to improving the quality of care and services we provide to our patients.

A number of Quality Improvement (QI) collaboratives allow groups of colleagues dedicated to the improvement of a particular area of patient safety to meet, share information, learn from and motivate each other in order to improve the quality of healthcare services across the Trust.

In this article, we shine a spotlight on some of our varied and exciting QI collaboratives and the people involved.

Reducing falls in vulnerable patients

“Hello my name is Elizabeth Milner. I joined the Falls collaborative as QI Partner after my mother’s death due to a fall whilst in care and because of my experience as a patient, carer and lifelong career in nursing. “The aim of this enthusiastic committed multi professional team is to reduce falls and the impact of harm to patients, their families and staff. This is being achieved by the cumulative effect of multiple tested small interventions suggested by frontline staff - no idea is too small! The team has produced a video to raise patients’ awareness of the risk of falls when in hospital. “My role is that of a ‘critical friend’ to help improve and contribute to the development of new initiatives using my life experience. I feel my views are welcomed and valued by the team. “The success of the Falls Collaborative was demonstrated by a significant reduction in falls pre-Covid and this was recognised by winning a Patient Safety Award. To help meet the challenges of the pandemic the Collaborative met virtually and I continued to participate in its work. I believe that the ongoing focus on falls has helped mitigate some of the disruptive impact of the pandemic on patient safety.

Taking the weight off pressure ulcers

“Hello, my name is Katy-Mallender Ward and I am part of the Pressure Ulcer QI collaborative whose aim is to support wards in implementing new ideas and ways of working to reduce patients developing pressure ulcers. “Wards involved in the collaborative review the number of developed pressure ulcers per month and share their experiences of implementing a change on a small scale in their area. These can vary from introducing a clock to alert when a patient requires a turn, to developing a trolley of equipment which is easy to access. “Clinical staff are encouraged to attend the collaborative meetings and we have representation from patient volunteers, continence nurse specialists, tissue viability nurse specialists, nurses, CSWs, ward managers, quality matrons, clinical educators, physiotherapists, dietitians, and occupational therapists. “The work is very much a collaborative approach where staff can talk openly about barriers they may face and we work as a team to overcome them and encourage small tests of change with ideas brought from clinical staff who deliver the care directly to patients.”

Confronting without conflict

ward. Throughout the pandemic we have seen an increase in vulnerable patients with mental health problems attending with physical illness, all with varying presentations. To help our staff to be able to safely manage our vulnerable patients appropriately, the Deescalate collaborative was established to share learning and ideas. “This collaborative brings together different members of the multidisciplinary team from around LTHT who are involved in caring for patients who may display clinically related behaviours that staff can find challenging to manage such as aggression and agitation. “We have been able to secure funding to be able to train our staff in conflict resolution which has given us the confidence to be able to manage these patients more effectively. The teams are now able to identify patients who are becoming more agitated at an earlier stage and measures of deescalation such as placement of the patient in appropriate bed spaces can be implemented timely. “A particularly successful intervention is the twice-daily “safety huddle” where high-risk patients are discussed and assessments and experiences from the previous shift are handed over. This way, risks and any successful de-escalation techniques used can be shared.” This is just a taster of a few QI collaboratives at LTHT. Are you inspired or want to learn more? Please contact our QI network for more information. Additionally, we hold monthly QI training, open to all interested in QI – sign up via ESR or email: lindsey.brady@nhs.net