QEP e-bulletin October 2016
First Time Dialysis Project
Exclusive
QEP What is and why we need it
Dialysis Unit QEP delivers crucial service for patients
Quick QEPs Ideas from around the Trust
FabChangeDay What will your pledge be?
Where we all make a difference
QEP
Welcome to the first edition of the QEP e-bulletin – the place to find out about what projects are taking place around our Trust to improve quality, efficiency and productivity. This monthly e-bulletin will keep you up to date with current projects and, hopefully, give you some ideas on how you can improve quality, efficiency and productivity in your own department. The NHS is expected to deliver a cost reduction of 10-15% by April 2021 while continuing to improve the care we provide to our patients.
New service focuses on crucial dialysis stage First-time dialysis patients on Merseyside became the first in the country to be given crucial one-to-one support in an innovative improvement project to help them through the difficult first stages of treatment. Our Dialysis Unit teamed up with the QEP team to The project will help patients through the provide patient-tailored difficult first stages of treatment education during the first six dialysis sessions to equip them with information to make decisions about their own treatment.
As a Trust we have a target of £25m to deliver by April 2017. At month five we have £19.7m identified, this leaves us with a shortfall of £5.3million. This is where QEP comes in.
Dialysis is used for patients who suffer from chronic kidney disease and is normally carried out three times a week lasting for around four hours each time.
QEP looks at how we can all find better ways of working.
The First Time Dialysis Project, which will benefit the 150 patients who start dialysis at the Royal each year, is supported by the Health Foundation, an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK. The project was selected following a highly competitive national selection process.
We recently held a survey on the staff intranet homepage to see how many of you know what QEP is. 51.4% of staff who took part in the survey were familiar with QEP while 41.4% didn’t know about it. We’ll be running another survey in six months to see how things have changed. Remember, when you focus on cutting costs, you automatically reduce quality, but when you focus on increasing quality, you almost always reduce cost.
The first 90-days of dialysis are often the most critical, with patients’ bodies and minds adapting to new circumstances.
As a regional specialist dialysis unit, the Royal treats around 100 patients every day. Dr Asheesh Sharma, consultant nephrologist and project lead, said: “We’ve worked with our patients to create a service that supports them through an extremely difficult time. Chronic kidney disease is a life-limiting condition with outcomes that can be worse than some cancers. “It has a huge impact upon quality of life and patients are often underprepared to make decisions about their treatment options. With this project, we want to make dialysis as stress-free as possible for our patients and their loved ones.” Alex McCrudden, QEP insight lead, said: “This is about doing things right the first time our patients start on dialysis therefore improving quality for our patients and providing them with a world class service.” Dave Reid, 58, from Kirkby, underwent dialysis after suffering kidney failure when he was 23. Dave said:
Janet Budd Associate director of change
When I found out I had kidney failure, I didn’t know what that meant, what my kidneys did or how it would affect my life. It’s really important to have a nurse with the time to talk you through what is happening around you and catering the treatment specifically for you.
Quick QEPs from across the Trust Teams have been finding new ways of improving quality and reducing costs across our hospitals. Here’s a look at what ideas are being implemented. CT team The CT team recently negotiated a better price for theatre and procedure packs from Kimal. The anticipated annual spend in year was originally £73,333 but the team re-negotiated this to £63,000 – that’s a saving of £10,333. Well done!
Corporate One idea to come from the recent QEP Week was for members of staff who are awaiting their pin number to be issues linen scrubs. Uniforms, on average, cost £80, while a set of scrubs would cost £4 on average.
Blood management and transfusion protocol This improvement to patient blood management has a quality benefit to patients and should deliver non-pay savings. Haematology are keen to initiate this work through recruitment of a Band 7 nurse or a biomedical scientist who can support the PBM strategy.
Did you know? Unwanted equipment can be recycled using Warpit. Once registered, you can use the online tool to advertise items you no longer need or search for something you want. Contact ian.stenton@rlbuht. nhs.uk for information.
Idea Street leader board We’ve had 150 ideas on how we can improve how we work posted on Ideas Street so far. These ideas range from ways to improve patient care to ways we can operationally be more efficient. Some members of staff aren’t content with posting just one great idea or QEP, though. Here’s a look at this month’s Idea Street Leaderboard with a video message from the QEP insight lead Alex McCrudden. Click on the leaderboard to see who’s topping the table.
FabChangeDay
NHS Change Day takes places on 19 October and we want to hear your pledges big or small. The awareness day encourages all NHS staff to make changes to improve the care provided to patients across the country. This year, you can share your pledges on the Trust’s Padlet page. Simply enter ‘change’ when prompted for a password. You can also share your pledges in the main reception on 19 October. Pledges from recent years have included: • A paediatrician who tasted the medicines he was prescribing to his patients and, when he realised many of them were unpalatable, started working with his pharmacy to change the flavour • A GP who spent the day in a wheelchair to understand how his disabled patients felt • A midwife so moved by the care experiences of her own deaf daughter that she has pledged to do all she can to get basic sign language included in nurse training • A surgical team who have pledged to make sure every child waking after surgery is greeted in the recovery room by their favourite cuddly toy • A doctor living on a special renal diet for a week
Where to go for inspiration Right across the country, NHS staff are finding new and exciting ways to provide care for patients. Click on the links below to find out what’s happening in other trusts and to see what ideas you could take back to your department. • NHS Improving Quality • NHS Fab Change Day • AQuA • Kings Fund • Institute for Healthcare Improvement • The Health Foundation •