Wiltshire 100 Day Challenge page 7
@RUHBath The staff newspaper of the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust Page 2 Physiotherapy on-call
Page 2 Sepsis success
October 2014
Page 3 ICU in select group
Inpatient vascular surgery transferring
Patient safety Award winner Natasha is an excellent role model Senior Sister Natasha Howard was presented with the Trust’s Patient Safety Award 2014 at our Annual General Meeting. An audience of over 200 staff and members of the public congratulated Natasha on her award, which was presented in recognition of her contribution to keeping patients safe. Natasha worked with the Patients Association to look at how hydration could be improved for patients on her own ward
(Parry). She then undertook an evaluation to measure the impact of this work and implemented changes to practice; repeat testing of hydration levels of patients on Parry led to an overall improvement of 13%. The intention is to implement these changes across the whole hospital. Matron Alison Flower said: “Natasha’s overwhelming desire was to ensure that every member of staff understood their role in hydration - from the ward doctors and nurses,
Foundation Trust update
As @RUHBath goes to print, we are still awaiting the outcome of our application to become an NHS Foundation Trust the independent regulator Monitor is still reviewing the information provided, ahead of making a decision on authorisation. As soon as we have any more information, we’ll share it with you. If you have any questions about our application, or want to know why we are striving to become an FT, you can visit the Foundation Trust webpage on the intranet, or contact the membership office on x1299.
to therapist’s and cleaning staff - thus making it everyone’s business that our patients remain well hydrated whilst in our care. “As a consequence of this work the Trust adopted the hydration chart as part of a suite of tools nurses use to plan and deliver personalised patient care, Natasha was also shortlisted for a national Patient Safety Award 2014 from the Health Service Journal. “As Natasha’s matron, I know that she will insist that many others were also part of this work. Her drive was to shine a light on the importance of hydration in hospital, and that her (our) patients receive the best, evidence-based care possible. I am very proud to be Natasha’s matron, she is a fabulous senior ward sister and a role model for nursing staff in the Trust.” There is more about our talented, awardwinning staff on page 3.
Some of you may be aware of the centralisation of inpatient vascular services within the South West. Many staff have been involved in this service transfer incorporating North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), University Hospital Bristol NHS Trust (UHB), Weston General Hospital and the RUH, and which specifically for us takes effect from Monday 13 October. From this date inpatient vascular services will transfer from the RUH to NBT’s Southmead Hospital as part of the establishment of a new vascular network. The new Major Arterial Centre (MAC) at Southmead will bring together all arterial surgery for the network and provide 24/7 access to a specialist vascular multi-disciplinary team of vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists and specialist nurses, and includes the provision of a new £1.5 million pound ‘hybrid’ operating theatre. The MAC will provide complex aortic endovascular treatments for the whole of the South West. Vascular clinics at the RUH will continue, although now managed centrally by NBT. Vascular Studies will remain as will their diagnostic ultrasound services, and other diagnostic imaging such as CT and MRA will also remain at the RUH in Radiology. Vascular day case surgery including day case angioplasty and peripheral angioplasty will also continue at the RUH. Patients whose care is ongoing will have already received information explaining the changes, and the vascular network will continue to support the local care of patients though agreed pathways of care with the stroke network, diabetic foot multidisciplinary teams, and community rehabilitation services. Although many staff have been involved with the service transfer, this change will only directly affect two of our vascular surgeons who will be transferring to NBT from October. The network’s development has been overseen by a local Vascular Services Review Board (independently chaired by Chris Hine, Public Health Consultant, Bristol City Council) and the network lead is Mr Marcus Brooks, Consultant Vascular Surgeon at UHB.