Improving patient care
Date of release: 9 October 2024
Reducing the length of stay for hospital patients and decreasing waiting times were some of the top initiatives rewarded at an innovative awards ceremony that celebrated improvements made across two Black Country NHS Trusts.
Walsall Healthcare and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trusts held their second joint Quality Improvement (QI) Awards last week.
One of the award winners included improving day case rates for Trans-urethral Resection of Bladder Tumour (TURBT) at New Cross Hospital which saw the number of day cases increase from 8.7 per cent to 30 per cent. TURBT is an operation to take a biopsy or remove cancer from inside the bladder.
By doing so, the average length of stay reduced from 1.32 days to 0.85 days, helping patients go home sooner and saving the Trust more than £30,000 to re-invest in care.
Another winner was an initiative at Walsall Manor Hospital to introduce day case surgery for hip and knee replacement. Prior to March 2024, elective hip and knee replacement was never performed there as a day case procedure. This has now been introduced and proving beneficial for patients.
Participants all produced posters capturing their QI projects, explaining the background to their ideas, the challenges faced, and the results of driving forward their suggestions.
Many of the award nominations have seen multiple benefits including better patient experience, shorter hospital stays, more effective use of resources and improved job satisfaction for staff.
Simon Evans, Group Chief Strategy Officer for the Trusts, said: “The event was a fantastic way to showcase all the hard work our staff are putting in to improve patient experience.
“Everyone I spoke to was so passionate about their area and providing the best patient care they can. It was brilliant to see the difference our staff are making using their innovative and creative ideas.
“To have more than 100 poster submissions covering so many areas and specialties makes me feel so proud of our talented teams."
The awards align with the Trusts’ joint strategy of striving to embed a culture of learning and continuous improvement at all levels of the organisations, supporting, recognising and celebrating colleagues who are embracing quality improvement in all that they do.
Download the PDF below to view the full list of winners:-
QI Awards 2024 - Full List of Winners (PDF, 89Kb)
ENDS
- For further information, please email amy.downward@nhs.net
