Staff comitted to driving up standards of patient care
The third NHS Wales Annual Quality Statement was produced earlier this year. Here are just some of the improvements being made to patient care across the country
Every year the Welsh NHS produces a report which gives a detailed overview of the successes and challenges of the previous 12 months.
It highlights aspects of good practice, which should be shared throughout the country, and areas where improvements need to be made.
NHS chief executive Dr Andrew Goodall, who produced the report, admitted that demand on healthcare services was increasing year-on-year.
But he said staff had a “professional pride and commitment to patients and the NHS” to continually drive up standards.
He said: “The budget for health and social care in Wales is £7.2bn and expectations and demands on services continue to increase, so we need to look at ways to work efficiently and safely, while meeting current demand and developing to meet future needs.” Every year in the Welsh NHS there are: 30,000 births one million A&E attendances three million outpatient appointments
an estimated 18 million contacts in GP practices, community clinics and other primary care settings
The ‘First 1,000 Days’ works with pregnant women and families with very young children, aiming for the best possible outcome for every pregnancy.
The work has begun in parts of Wrexham and Torfaen but we are now looking at sharing what has already been learnt to other parts of Wales.
QWorking to reduce stillbirth Stillbirth and late miscarriage can be devastating for a baby’s parents, family members and friends.
Sadly not all stillbirths can be prevented, but we know there are some things people can do to reduce the risk, such as stopping smoking and avoiding alcohol and drugs during pregnancy.
So that we can continuously improve the care our maternity services provide, we established the All Wales Maternity Network which aims to improve outcomes for mothers and babies in Wales.
Part of this work focuses on reducing the incidence of stillbirths in Wales.
The National Stillbirth Working Group is targeting specific conditions linked to stillbirth.
New guidelines on fetal movements in pregnancy have been introduced, so that advice is offered at every contact with a health professional about monitoring fetal movements in pregnancy and what to do if the pattern is altered.
The group is working closely with Sands (stillbirth and neonatal death charity) to improve the standard of bereavement care for those families who sadly experience the loss of their baby.
This has resulted in a set of quality standards being issued in January 2016 setting out what needs to be in place for a postmortem examination following a stillbirth – the first of its kind in the UK. Learning to improve patient safety Around 70,000 patient safety incidents are reported each year by Welsh NHS organisations, the vast majority of which do not cause harm to patients these are often referred to as “near misses”.
This sounds like a very large number but to put this in context every year there are millions of contacts in the NHS Wales, with more than five million in hospital settings alone. However, sometimes more serious incidents occur which could cause serious patient harm. We call some type of incidents “never events”.
As the name suggests this refers to some things that should never happen if appropriate actions were in place. Never events include things like operating on the wrong part of the body or leaving things such as swabs in the body after surgery.
Over the past year we undertaken a review of the 16 never events reported associated with surgical procedures.
As a result of this learning we have issued a set of national standards for invasive procedures.
Each organisation is now working to put these in place locally and adapt them to ensure they are specific to each type of surgical procedure they carry out.
This includes things like ensuring a surgical safety checklist is used at every step in the process. Sepsis Sepsis is a time-critical, potentially life threatening medical emergency.
It is caused by the body’s overwhelming inflammatory response to infection.
Sepsis continues to be a patient safety priority for NHS Wales.
During 2016 the Global Sepsis Alliance recognised the work of NHS Wales for its sepsis awareness and education initiatives at the 2016 Global Sepsis Awards.
In Cardiff and Vale, they have introduced 30 special trolleys that will allow staff to react more quickly when treating septicaemia.
Over the past year there has been a particular focus on make it easier for staff to have access to all that they need to treat patients promptly as time is of the essence – this is called the Sepsis 6 Bundle.
Cwm Taf University Health Board, working with Rocialle has been trialling the use of sepsis boxes. Providing care closer to home Projects are underway to bring a service traditionally delivered in hospitals closer to people’s homes.
In some areas, people with hearing problems can now be examined by an audiologist at their GP surgery.
The aim is to make it easier for patients and to relieve pressure on GPs and hospital ear, nose and throat (ENT) and audiology departments.
Three experienced health board audiologists in Abertawe Bro Morgannwg have been seconded parttime to primary care audiology roles in Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and Bridgend.
Similarly, Betsi Cadwaladr has three primary care audiologists delivering services in 17 GP practices and another two primary care audiologists being recruited.
Patients with hearing, tinnitus and specific balance symptoms are seen by the audiologist rather than a GP.
Initial patient feedback in BCUHB has been really positive with 100% of people rating the care received as “good, very good or excellent”, with people happy to recommend the service to others. Reducing the time it takes to get a diagnosis, treatment or operation There has been an improvement in diagnostic and therapy waiting times in Wales in recent years.
Health boards across the country are working to make improvements where patients are waiting too long, but the latest figures show that waiting times are improving.
There has been a reduction in the number of people waiting over eight weeks for a diagnostic test in Wales.
Between October 2009 and January 2014, the number of patients waiting more than eight weeks for diagnostic services increased with the figures peaking at almost 28,000.
Since then there has been an overall decrease, with less than 11,000 waiting over eight weeks up to October 2016 – a 61% reduction.