Digital innovation at the Children’s Hospital

LTHT continues sterling work on the Leeds vaccination rollout

The summer and autumn have been a continued period of rapid and significant change for the vaccination programme, as it has adapted to roll out jabs to new cohorts and started delivering boosters.

Boosters are being offered to those at greater risk from Covid, including people over 50, those with underlying conditions and frontline health and care staff. Our Elland Road vaccination centre continues to play a key role in this, including providing vaccinations for the 48,000 eligible NHS and care staff across the city. The team is also supporting the rollout of vaccinations to 12-15 year olds in schools, working with the school aged immunisation service hosted by Leeds Community Healthcare, Leeds City Council and local secondary schools and specialist education providers. This has been a major undertaking, necessitating an adaptable and flexible team, who have been ready to face new challenges daily. The JCVI has recommended that some severely immunosuppressed patients should have a third primary vaccination, as evidence has shown that they have not tended to develop such high levels of immunity from two doses as other people. The Trust has been working with GPs to help identify these patients and the appropriate time for providing their third dose, as well as providing the vaccinations for some patients currently under consultant care.

And alongside all this, we are continuing to offer first and second doses to anyone who has not yet had these as part of the ‘evergreen’ vaccination offer! Work to encourage further uptake remains a priority and our two pop-up clinics at Woodsley and East Leeds have played an important role in increasing uptake in those communities. New community outreach approaches will be coming into place when these close at the end of October and planning for these and the ongoing delivery of the vaccination programme for Leeds are continuing – so watch this space!

Digital IT - working with The Children’s Hospital

Colleagues from Leeds Children’s Hospital and DIT have worked together to launch a number of new digital ways of working, aiming to reduce manual effort, improve data accuracy, and ultimately improve the care provided for children and young people.

In July, the team introduced ePAWS, a new way of monitoring paediatric patients. Paediatric Advanced Warning Score (PAWS) is an alert system which helps to identify paediatric patients at risk of deterioration, using the patient’s clinical observations to recommend a response and next steps. Until recently, scores were calculated manually and recorded on a paper chart. The new system uses the mobile version of PPM+ to record clinical observations, calculate PAW scores, and record any related interventions. This reduces the potential for manual error, providing fast, easy access to real-time information, automating the display of results and task reminders.

The team has also introduced a new height and weight e-form in PPM+. This also replaces a paper based method, meaning clinical colleagues can use PPM+ to record and track paediatric patient’s growth, allowing them to monitor and spot any trends over time. This ensures growth charts become an integral part of the electronic health record and can be easily and quickly accessed by clinical colleagues across the organisation. Celia McKenzie, Head of Nursing at Leeds Children’s Hospital said “ePAWS is a real step forward compared to our previous paper version. Feedback so far has been great, and it’s much easier to get an overview of patients on the unit, with less paperwork. We’re embracing digital because it can make a real difference, helping reduce manual effort and time taken to complete paperwork, improve data accuracy, and ultimately improve the care we provide for children and young people.”

Emily Plummer - Staff Nurse, Ward L40, Leeds Children’s Hospital

Launch of the Innovation Pop Up

In September the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Innovation Pop Up was launched and introduced to delegates at the opening event of the Leeds Academic Healthcare Partnership (LAHP) Healthtech Catalyst.

The Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, gave a keynote speech and discussed the importance of innovation in healthtech and its transformational role in health and care services. At the event, attendees heard from the Mayor about the new Innovation Pop Up at the Trust and how it links staff, partners and industry. Professor David Brettle, Chief Scientific Officer at the Trust said: “I was delighted to launch the Trust’s new Innovation Pop Up. It was fantastic to be part of the LAHP Healthtech Catalyst event and talk to delegates about the Innovation Pop Up at this high profile event. I was thrilled that this exciting development at the Trust was recognised at the event by the Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin. The Mayor spoke about how the Innovation Pop Up will help position Leeds City Region as the engine for health innovation.”