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Four teams from Kettering General Hospital have been shortlisted for prestigious national awards for providing excellent value services that improve patients’ experience of care.

Hundreds of NHS and social care organisations enter the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards 2020 each year and competition is fierce in all of the award categories.

KGH is shortlisted in four areas in the Value Awards section which judges entries on whether they create value in areas such as patient satisfaction and experience, reduction in bureaucracy, and time saved for staff at any level.

The KGH shortlisted awards, announced today (Tuesday March 3, 2020) are –

Diabetes Care Initiative of the Year

The KGH short listed nomination involves the establishment of a new antibiotic clinic for diabetes patients with infected foot ulcers.

Foot ulcers are a serious condition in which amputation is 23 times more likely for someone with diabetes than without.

A KGH team led by Antimicrobial Pharmacist, Naomi Fleming, and Diabetes Specialist Podiatrist, Paula Grannon, clinically supervised by Consultant Diabetologist, Michael Pierides, developed this patient-centred service.

It is an expansion of the existing service because it comes in addition to regular multidisciplinary diabetic foot clinics.

The new service also involve patients using specialist antibiotic 24 hour IV infusion devices  at home to deliver antibiotics that would be required three or four times a day – avoiding the need for hospital admission.  This technology is not commonly used.

In her bid Naomi said: “The service has seen 131 patients over 23 months and avoided 89 admissions saving £389,000.

“Patients have benefitted from extra clinic appointments and healing rates are up from 11% to 22% over 12 weeks. Also 94% of users have said they are extremely likely to recommend the service to family and friends.”

Patients surveyed on the new service said: “I can’t speak highly enough about everybody involved in my treatment. The care was first class and everyone was so nice to me during a time of worry.

“The 24 hour infusion gives you back a manageable life – it frees up everybody’s valuable time.”

Acute Service Redesign Initiative

The Trust’s Urology Team and Transformation Team have been shortlisted for the way in which they have developed new one-stop urology service.

The Patient One Stop was, established in October 2019, and provides better care and shorter waits for patients along with faster diagnosis and quicker access to the right treatment.

It works by teams testing, diagnosing and giving individual treatment plan all in the same hospital visit.

The number of people receiving a package of tests and care in one attendance and then being discharged has improved from 4% to 50%.

Transformation Programme Manager, Cath Chisholm, said: “This one-stop model is currently being tested at both KGH and NGH, with the two trusts working closely together through Northamptonshire Health and Care Partnership to develop standardised processes ensuring patients throughout the county can access the same high-quality care.

Consultant surgeon in urology and urooncology, David Payne, said: “By providing tests, results and a consultation in a single hospital visit we can diagnose and treat conditions faster, resulting in better outcomes for our patients and helping us to manage increasing demand in a sustainable and co-ordinated way.”

Respiratory Care Initiative of the Year

KGH’s Thoracoscopy Team have been shortlisted for a day case service for respiratory patients which has reduced the need for hospital admission.

It is called day case thoracoscopy with pluerodesis – a service which helps to reduce the build-up of fluid outside of the lungs.

The team is led by Respiratory Consultant, Dr Raja Reddy, who said: “By developing the service as a day case we have been able to schedule these procedures in ways that have eliminated uncertainty for patients in the sense of their routine procedure being cancelled because of pressure on hospital beds.

“Admissions to hospital have been reduced by 90% and the patient feedback is overwhelmingly positive. A cost analysis has shown that that there is a £470 saving per patient for the local healthcare economy.

“As an additional value this is a very efficient service with motivated and committed staff proud of the service they are offering.”

Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Award

A multi-disciplinary team approach to reduce medicines wastage for rheumatology patients has been shortlisted for an award.

The initiative was carried out between pharmacy, rheumatology and commissioners to ensure patients with rheumatoid arthritis got the right high cost drugs for their specific conditions.

The team was made up of consultants, specialist nurses, therapists and pharmacists, and used national Get It Right First Time national methodology to redesign treatment pathways.

Regional Homecare Lead Pharmacist Anusha Patel said: “We are delighted that our initiative has been shortlisted for a national award. Our aim has been to reduce waste and promote individualised patient care and there is evidence this work has achieved that.”

The shortlisted entries can be viewed at: https://value.hsj.co.uk/finalists-2020

Winners will be selected ahead of the 2020 HSJ awards ceremony, which is due to be held at the Manchester Central Conference Centre, Manchester on May 21.

The judging panel is made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community.