Staff and managers from care homes across the East Midlands came together in January to celebrate success in improving the quality and safety of care. An event held at Trent Vineyard in Nottingham on Thursday 18 January saw the presentation of six awards, highlighting the achievement of individuals and care homes across the region.

The awards were based on the results of care homes using the LPZ audit tool over the last year to improve the monitoring and recording of quality indicators for their residents.

The Landielijke Pravelentiemeting Zorgkwaliteit (LPZ) tool was developed by Maastricht University in The Netherlands and is now used in Austria, New Zealand, Turkey, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland.

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, falls, restraint and pain.

First introduced three years ago, 30 care homes across the five counties of the region are now using LPZ and have made improvements to the care they deliver.

Routinely reviewing LPZ data, allows nursing and residential homes to make improvements to the care they deliver resulting in reduced falls, reduced pressure ulcers, improved continence and pain management etc.

The East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative (EMPSC) – a programme in the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN) - has funded the roll-out of the LPZ tool to the 30 care homes, as well as supporting the on-going quality improvement and providing training for care home staff.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has also highlighted the implementation of LPZ as a proactive approach that care homes are taking to improve quality and safety in a number of its recent inspection reports.[1]

The winners of the first LPZ awards were:

- LPZ Care Home Team of the Year – Alexandra Lodge (Nottingham)

- LPZ Innovation of the Year – Oakdene Care Home (Sleaford)

- Outstanding LPZ Individual of the Year – Julie O’Shea (with kitchen team Caroline Dennis, Diane Jones, Alberta Chan, Elizabeth Russell and Rebecca Fox) – Alexandra Lodge (Nottingham)

- LPZ Supporting Team of the Year – Trust Tissue Viability Team, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation

- Most Improved LPZ Care Home of the Year – Alexandra Lodge (Nottingham)

- LPZ Care Home Manager of the Year – Sarah Smith, Beechdale House.

Julie O’Shea, who is a cook at Alexandra Lodge in Nottingham won the Outstanding LPZ Individual of the Year award for the work of her team to improve the nutritional status of residents through improved diet.

Says Julie: “It was a great event and really amazing to find out I’d won an award, which I accepted on behalf of the whole kitchen team as we have all worked together on this - everyone has had a role to play in improving nutrition. Preparing and presenting meals and drinks in a way that is more appetising helps people to enjoy mealtimes more. This is so important for frail, elderly people who may be on a restrictive diet or struggle to eat enough to maintain strength and health.”

Cheryl Crocker Executive Lead for the EMPSC says: “It was great for care home staff to come together at this event to share their results and learning as members of the East Midlands LPZ community. This was the first time we have presented the awards which aim to recognise some of the fantastic work taking place thanks to the hard work and commitment of care homes staff. Everyone has a valuable contribution to make in improving the quality and safety of care and it was wonderful see examples of success from across the region.”

Adam Gordon, Consultant Geriatrician at Derby Hospitals and clinical lead for the LPZ programme, adds: “One of the most exciting things about working on the LPZ project has been to see the enthusiasm amongst care home staff for delivering high quality care to older residents. We are learning how regular audits of care can give staff the insights they need to change their day-to-day practice and make care even better. This is a great example of how the NHS and care homes can work together more productively in the future. The awards ceremony gave us the opportunity to celebrate some of the best examples from the local care home sector of where staff have worked to improve what they do.”

Evaluation of the impact of using the LPZ data audit tool in care homes is on-going with a view to future wider roll-out in other regions outside of the East Midlands.

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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

[1] http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/INS2-2473589447.pdf and http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/INS2-2488744553.pdf