The East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative (PSC) is celebrating three shortlisted entries at this year’s Patient Safety Awards.

The PSC - which is hosted by the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN) – has been named a finalist for its roll out of the LPZ audit tool to care homes in the Patient Safety in the Community category and for both the LPZ tool and its Delirium project in the Care of Older People category.

Nursing and residential homes in the East Midlands are the first in the UK to use LPZ, which measures the prevalence of common care issues such as pressure ulcers, continence, nutrition, chronic wounds and pain. The LPZ audit tool is now being used by 30 East Midlands care homes to improve the monitoring and recording of key health and wellbeing indicators for residents.

The Landielijke Pravelentiemeting Zorgkwaliteit (LPZ) tool was developed by Maastricht University in The Netherlands and is now used in Austria, New Zealand, Turkey and Switzerland. The East Midlands PSC has funded the roll-out of the LPZ tool to care homes, as well as supporting the on-going audit of data and providing training for care home staff.

Routinely reviewing LPZ data, allows nursing and residential homes to identify health issues early so care can be put in place quickly to avoid deterioration and any potential safeguarding issues. LPZ also supports learning and allows regional and international benchmarking against some of the most common problems found in care homes.

Also shortlisted in the Care of Older People category is the PSC’s Delirium initiative which has seen a specialist nurse role integrated into the post-operative care team for elective orthopaedic surgery at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

This 15 month pilot aimed to prevent delirium in patients aged 65+ following hip and knee surgery. As well as supporting positive culture change within the hospital’s clinical and support team and increased awareness of the signs and impact of delirium, the project has also seen a reduction in the average length of stay from 5.6 to 4.2 days.

The pilot has shown the value of retaining the role of a Delirium Nurse Practitioner and this has now been funded as a permanent component of the nursing team with other acute trusts also expressing interest in adopting this model of care.

Mike Hannay, Manging Director at the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network, says: “These projects deserve recognition for improving the quality and safety of care provided to hospital patients and care home residents.

“Partnership working across clinical disciplines and care settings has helped improved communication and supported new ways of working. We are delighted that the hard work of all involved has been highlighted at a national level and wish both projects all the very best for the awards.”

The 2018 Patient Safety Awards will be held as part of this year’s Patient Safety Congress which takes place in Manchester on 9 and 10 July.

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Notes:

LPZ partners

The East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative (EMPSC) has worked with The University of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham CityCare Partnership and Derbyshire and Nottingham Clinical Commissioning Groups to roll out LPZ training for care home staff and support the audit of care homes data.

About EMAHSN

The East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN) is one of 15 Academic Health Science Networks in England. EMAHSN brings together the NHS, universities, industry and social care to transform the health of the region’s 4.6M residents and stimulate wealth. Current priorities focus on identifying and spreading innovations that address challenges including cancer, obesity, diabetes, mental health, respiratory disease, liver disease and support for frail older people. www.healthinnovation-em.org.uk