LHCH joins other hospitals in publishing safety and quality information
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital has joined with seven other Trusts today to publish for the first time detailed information on the safety and quality of its care.
The data is available here.
The North West Transparency Pilot was launched today by Jane Cummings,Chief Nurse in NHS North of England. It is the first-ever publication of collaborative, up-to-date monthly information tracking pressure ulcers and falls, staff views including whether they would be happy for friends and family to be treated in the hospital they work at, and results of patient experience surveys.
All eight hospitals are pioneering a new level of openness which is set to be rolled out across other hospitals in the region and nationwide.
The data shows the number of falls and pressure ulcers for each Trust in January. Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital recorded 0 falls and 5 pressure ulcers, four of which were Grade 2 and 1 Grade 3.
The hospital has a strong safety focussed culture and as a result of this, for the past two years, has set up a very positive reporting system and backed this up by appropriate training and education to allow staff to recognise every incidence of pressure ulcer irrespective of severity.
Raj Jain, Chief Executive, commented: “Our commitment to safety is a key component in ensuring patients receive the best care possible. This is evidenced in the patient experience survey scores with 100% of patients confirming we involved them in decisions about their care, that they were treated with dignity and respect and had confidence and trust in the nurses treating them.”
In 2010, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital launched a vision for how patients and families should experience care at the hospital by April 2013. Through this, it set out an ambitious plan and some of the improvements being implemented include:
- Releasing more of the ward managers’ time to support staff and quality assure care
- Introducing regular comfort checks for patients
- A programme called ‘majoring on the minor’ which recognises that it is often the little things which actually make a big difference to patients
- Introducing a patient and family centred care model
- Improvement projects in both falls and tissue viability which has demonstrated a 30% decrease in the number of falls and a 65% reduction in pressure ulcers
Raj Jain added: “Already as a result of these improvements, 100% of patients have confirmed they would recommend the hospital to their family or friends and 91% said the care provided by the hospital, exceeded their expectations, in an internal survey. Indeed, 100% of staff themselves would also recommend working and receiving care here.”
