Teams of Scottish healthcare staff – both executive leaders and front-line personnel – are taking part in a unique collaboration to share ideas and learning on how to deliver better patient care.

The Acute Adult Programme, one part of the highly-acclaimed Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) which is run by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, is working with University College Hospital in London and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford, to develop a network of UK health care organisations who can offer vital insight into ways they are helping to improve the safety and reliability of hospital treatment.

In the latest visit, 30 clinicians and executives from nine Health Boards in Scotland travelled to the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, an acknowledged centre of excellence in its treatment methods particularly in relation to deteriorating patients.

SUPPORT

Alison Hunter, who leads the SPSP Acute Adult team, said the appetite and support from Health Boards to take up the opportunity to participate in the project has been very encouraging.

She said: “To have so many staff attend is an extremely positive sign of the value of this collaboration.

“It is also very pleasing to have a mix of both executives and front-line clinician staff, all of whom were able to hear from, and answer questions of, leaders in the field of acute adult care.

“We were able to learn how Salford Royal has redesigned their ways of working at all levels to achieve their improvements.  The Scottish clinical staff and leaders were able to come away with specific ideas for change that will help them to take forward this important work within their Health Boards.

“SPSP will continue to support this shared learning project both in and outside Scotland through facilitating a variety of opportunities for teams to come together to share their progress as they work to improve outcomes for patients.”

AIMS

SPSP Acute Adult team’s core aim is to work with Health Boards to reduce mortality and harm in acute health care.

Recognition, rescue and care planning for deteriorating patients have been identified as critical elements in achieving the aim of reducing mortality with early work focusing on improving recognition of deterioration through Early Warning Scoring.

The SPSP has been running in Scotland’s acute hospitals for more than six years, delivering a range of interventions that have helped to systematically improve patient care. While the starting point has been acute care, there has always been a commitment to extending this approach to other areas.  This programme now supports the implementation of safety programmes across Mental Health, Primary Care, Maternity, Neonatal and Paediatric Services