Assistant Nurse Director Jennifer Wilson led NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s Quality Improvement (QI) in Action – Celebrating Success event at University Hospital Ayr last week - a showcase and celebration of sustainable quality improvement projects at NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
Jennifer said: “It was fantastic to hear about all of the pioneering QI projects our staff are involved in from various speakers today.
“People are working together across departments and sites to improve how we provide our services. From lab requests to navigating the Health and Social Care Partnerships, from the fundamentals of discharging patients to preventing falls by keeping patients active, our staff are driving forward change in a challenging environment.”
Charlene McLaughlin and the Ayrshire Urgent Care Service (AUCS) (Out of Hours) team won the Excellence in QI award for their outstanding work on the “Attend Anywhere (NHS Near Me) test of change” project.
The aim was to reduce the number of patients who have to travel to an urgent care centre for a face-to-face consultation by offering video calls. This saves time and money for patients and staff when urgent care is not required.
Despite only beginning the test of change in January 2019, the AUCS virtual waiting area was ranked second in the National Services Scotland Top Ten Attend Anywhere services by consultation number for January 2019.
The QI Top Team Award went to the Ward 10, Woodland View Therapeutic Groups Project. They set out to improve the therapeutic environment and culture at Ward 10 and in turn reduce self-harm, violence and the need for restraint. The project had a hugely positive impact on the ward environment and patient safety.
Louise Steel, East Ayrshire Speech & Language Therapy (SLT) Manager won the Inspiring Leadership in QI Award for being an innovative and inspirational leader who encourages staff to pursue quality improvement at all times.
Eilidh Currie, Staff Nurse and Anne Carswell, Medical Secretary were Highly Commended for their work on an Endoscopy Link Nurse Follow-up (ELF) project to improve patients’ understanding of colonoscopy results.
Also Highly Commended was the Integrated Call Handling Test of Change by the Ayrshire Urgent Care Service (OOH) led by Charlene McLaughlin, This Test of Change trialled having one point of contact for all incoming callers to the AUCS service and resulted in the call handlers redirecting more than 40 per cent of callers to the most appropriate person or service.
Chief Executive, John Burns said: “I am proud to say that Quality Improvement is alive and well in Ayrshire and Arran. Well done to all of the individuals and teams who were awarded and commended and thanks to everyone who presented. It’s our dedicated, innovative staff who lead the way in transforming our services.”