Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13 - Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

1. Our Year
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13
23
Ground-breaking heart research
Researchers at the RD&E are leading
a research project to develop a better
physical treatment for an abnormal
heart rhythm.
The research project is being run
in nine hospitals across the South
West, with the RD&E being its main
sponsor site. The research is focussed
on a condition called supraventricular
tachycardia (SVT), a heart problem that
causes the heart to beat very quickly
and affects thousands of people
around the world.
The aim is to improve the effectiveness
of the initial physical treatment for this
condition and to reduce the number
of patients who need to go on to have
emergency drug treatment. The trial
itself does not use any drugs and only
takes a few minutes to run for each
of the 370 patients being invited to
take part.
When patients come to hospital
with SVT, they can help to get their
heart beat back to normal by doing
a physical treatment called a Valsalva
Manoeuvre (VM) but often this doesn’t
work. Changing the way the VM is
done might make it better at stopping
the SVT. That’s what researchers hope
to find out.
The trial is being co-ordinated and run
through the Peninsula Clinical Trials
Unit at Plymouth University Peninsula
Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, and
has been funded by a Research for
Patient Benefit Grant from the National
Institute of Health Research. The
research has been developed with the
help of Arrhythmia Alliance and local
Research Design Service.
Launch of new surgery unit at
RD&E
In January 2013 we launched a
dedicated surgery unit. The facility on
Knapp Ward follows a huge redesign
project to create a ward for all surgical
admissions, both in-patient and daycase.
Acting as a hub for planned
surgery taking place at the RD&E,
the new unit has 30 patient spaces
allowing staff to manage 50 daily
inpatient admissions and a further
20 day cases.
Providing patients and their families
with a calm and professional
environment is also very important.
Coming in for surgery can often be
daunting and many of our patients
have to travel long distances for their
procedures. The new unit allows us
to meet their needs more effectively,
ensuring that doctors see them in
a timely manner and that we get
patients home as soon as we can, once
they are well enough.
The unit was also an important part of
our plans to ease bed pressures during
the busy winter months, ensuring that
we deliver a more structured approach
for our surgical patients, provide them
with the best possible care during their
time with us, and reduce the number
of cancellations because of medical
emergencies.
New facilities include a large day room
providing a comfortable environment
for patients and their relatives, as well
as two new treatment rooms where
patients can be assessed in very private
surroundings.