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Our Trust
Sophie helps fracture patients’ take a break from hospital
Board to Ward walkabout at Central Middlesex Hospital In April, Trust Board members including the Chairman, Peter Worthington and Chief Executive, Dame Jacqueline Docherty took part in a Board to Ward walkabout and tour at Central Middlesex Hospital (CMH). The ‘Board to Ward’ session kicked off the 20th birthday celebrations of the Ambulatory Care and Diagnostic Centre (ACAD) which culminated in a special birthday tea party. During the walkabout, the Board members were able to visit a wide range of staff across a number of services at CMH including the pharmacy team, pathology, theatres and recovery, diagnostics, outpatients including the eye service as well as the Gladstone wards and the Abbey suite. The walkabout provided the Board with the opportunity to speak with staff on the frontline in their areas of work and to hear from staff about their achievements but also some of the issues they face in their day to day working.
Taking a break: Sophie and her fellow physios
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hospital ward specialising in treating fractures has designed a new care pathway that offers faster discharges by offering home based physio sessions. Sophie Russell, a highly specialised physiotherapist working at Northwick Park Hospital, noticed otherwise healthy patients being kept in hospital longer than necessary because they remained unsteady on their feet.
800 bed hours through early supported discharge. Sophie added: “We provide patients with the confidence and support to carry on their rehabilitation at home with up to four visits a week for the first fortnight after which it is reduced. The pathway was set up with the help of occupational health who ensure any home adaptations are carried out.
Sophie, 27, said: “No-one likes being in hospital longer than they have too. It’s frustrating for the patient and bed demand is high so I looked at how we could address both problems.
“It’s nice to see patients’ progress. They usually leave hospital and we never see them again and working with them at home gives me a better appreciation of what the challenges are.”
The Non-Weight Bearing Pathway has accommodated 25 patients since it was introduced last summer saving the hospital
Sophie won the Quality and Improvement category at the annual Staff Excellence Awards for the pathway.
Praise for trust’s savvy buying skills The trust’s procurement team has been praised by NHS England and NHS Improvement for a dramatic upturn in performance. The team, which is responsible for purchasing goods and services totalling more than £250m a year, climbed from being the 70th to 25th most efficient trust in a national league table. It is also now ranked as the fifth best performing trust in London.
The Board would like to extend their thanks and gratitude to all the staff involved for the great care they are providing to patients at CMH and beyond every day.
CEO Jacqueline Docherty (l-r) with principal pharmacist Debbie McGrath and Professor David Taube, one of our non-executive directors
Northwick physios cure for language barrier
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decision to offer a pain management course in Gujarati has been welcomed by the local community.
North West London is home to a large Gujarati community whose older patients sometimes poor grasp of English means they struggled to understand the ESCAPEprogramme for addressing severe knee and hip pain. In response, physiotherapists at Northwick Park are the first in the UK to translate Working out: patients working out in the gym the six week programme which combines translated into other languages so that as many people as educational self-management and coping possible benefit. strategies with an exercise regimen for each patient. “The pain caused by arthritis has no language barriers, Physios Karsh Patel and Arti Inamadar translated the so interventions that can help shouldn’t be hindered sessions ensuring the sessions were accessible to the by language either. It is wonderful to see that the local whole community. physiotherapists have responded to the needs of their Professor Mike Hurley, originator of the ESCAPE-pain local community and taken the time to translate the programme, said: “It’s really great to see our programme programme into Gujarati.”
