Time to shine: PAHT leads the way for quality improvement

We take a look at quality improvement across PAHT...

Visit to hospital in Great Yarmouth Our recent Academy of Fabulous Stuff quality improvement accreditation is proving an interest to other hospitals across the region. Our quality improvement team visited St James Paget University Hospital Trust recently to showcase our fantastic improvement projects that are underway and deliver a learning and development session on how we lead and deliver change at PAHT.

Leading change

23 April 2 - 4:30pm Maternity sitting room

Get involved with quality improvement Leading change The leading change sessions are an opportunity to learn about our quality improvement methodology as well as key change management models, supporting you to take a considered, planned and engaging approach to lead change within your area.

The sessions also help you to understand the reactions others have to change and how to best handle these reactions.

Leading projects The leading projects learning and development sessions give you our quality improvement team’s best practice guide to managing quality improvement projects in greater detail; coaching you through supporting templates and documentation.

Once you have completed the leading change and projects sessions and completed a quality 13 May 12 - 2:30pm Maternity sitting room

11 June 12 - 2:30pm Maternity sitting room

Leading projects

22 April 9:30 - 11:30am IT Room, Harlow College 20 May 10 - 12pm IT Room, Harlow College 18 June 2 - 4pm IT Room, Harlow College

improvement project, you will become an improvement partner. Action learning sets Action learning is a process that involves a small group working on improvement projects, taking action and learning as individuals, as a team, and as an organisation. It helps us to network with colleagues, gain support and develop creative and successful solutions collectively. You will be invited to join an action To book onto leading change or projects, please email: paht.training@nhs.net learning set whilst completing your quality improvement initiative to become an improvement partner. You can view the upcoming action learning sets on the Quality First Alex page.

Taylor Higgitt, business administration apprentice in the quality improvement team We caught up with Taylor Higgitt during National Apprenticeship Week to find out what she enjoys most about her apprenticeship. She said: “The thing that I enjoy the most about my apprenticeship is the people that I have met and worked with along the way; I’m learning new skills every day and the amount of support I have received throughout my apprenticeship has been amazing.” Improving patient outcomes As you know, one of our top priorities as a trust is to improve our mortality rate and patient outcomes, as well as the experience for our patients. A key measure of success will be to achieve an as expected mortality rate across all specialties by March 2021 in comparison to other NHS trusts. To ensure the target is met, five work streams were developed and are monitored by our mortality improvement board. We have been running the mortality improvement board for a year now and we are half way through our two-year journey to bring mortality rates to where we would expect them to be. For the last five months of reporting, our mortality rates are at the expected level. It looks as though we are now beginning to see the outcomes of our work around improving mortality rates – thank you to everyone involved. Antibiotic App enables more effective prescribing Have you tried the App that will make antibiotic prescribing more effective? Clinicians can download a MicroGuide App to enable them to have easy access to our antibiotic guidelines. The App was introduced by the mortality improvement board as part of the ongoing improving patient outcomes programme of work. The App ensures appropriate antibiotic prescribing for patients, and should result in a reduction in antibiotics, which is a key area of focus for the trust – recent data from Public Health England shows that there has been a decrease in antibiotic usage. The App is available on Apple and android devices; you can search and download 'MicroGuide' on the Apple and Google Play App store. If you have a trust device, the App is automatically available under the Apps at work icon - it is important to note that the antibiotic guidelines will remain on Alex. Dedicated teams raise awareness of best practice for acute kidney injury To mark World Kidney Day on 12 March, the acute kidney injury (AKI) project team and quality first team are raising awareness of AKI and sharing best practice advice on protecting our patients from developing an AKI and their treatment. They are focusing on FLUIDS, as an acronym: F: Fluid status - remember to complete fluid balance charts for all patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) or who are at risk of AKI. L: Low blood pressure (SBP<100) - remember fluid resuscitation and hold off on giving antihypertensives and diuretics. U: Urine output - take urinalysis for blood, protein and nitrites. This may help identify the cause of the acute kidney injury. I: Imaging - request urgent renal ultrasound scan if there is a suspected obstruction or no clear cause for acute kidney injury. D: Drug review - if an acute kidney injury is suspected, drugs with nephrotoxic potential must be stopped. S: Think sepsis - remember to treat sepsis promptly using the sepsis 6 protocol.