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

16 2. Progress on our
2012/13 Priorities
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Quality Report 2012/13
Trust Priorities 2012/13
Develop a strong
value-based vision
for Nurses, Midwives
and Allied Health
Professionals
Over the course of the last year
we have developed a new vision
to guide the work of the 2,800
nurses, midwives and allied health
professionals (AHPs) providing
patient care at the Trust. The
programme set out an ambitious
organisational-wide commitment to
ensure that high standards of care are
applied consistently. The three year
programme, which was developed by
senior leaders, seeks to capture the
pride and dedication that our nurses,
midwives and AHPs demonstrate on
a daily basis. It also emphasises their
passion to constantly improve patient
care: ‘good’ is not good enough – we
want to be the best we can possibly
be for our patients, their families and
carers. Representatives of nurses,
midwives and allied health professionals
at the RD&E were involved in the
development of the vision to reinforce
their commitment to:
• Providing safe, dignified and
compassionate care
• Being open and honest in their
communication and work in
partnership with patients and their
families
• Recognising specific needs
of individuals and providing
personalised care.
The programme of work which sits
beneath the vision includes simple
innovations such as ensuring good
practice in one area can be rolled out
and applied consistently and reliably
across the hospital, and making sure
that individuals are held accountable.
For example:
• We are rolling out Comfort
Rounds where we ensure that
each ward undertakes a nursing
round every hour. We believe
it is not acceptable for patients
to rely on a call bell to request
assistance. We want to pre-empt
the essential needs of our patients;
so every patient every hour will
be asked by a nurse or midwife
whether they are comfortable and
if there is anything they need.
This regular check will address
essential aspects of patient care
including pain management,
nutrition and hydration. We also
expect this pro-active approach
to reduce the incidence of patient
falls and pressure ulcers. We have
implemented Comfort Rounding
on 15 wards and have a plan to
see it fully implemented by July
2013
• We have always sought to
improve our services by listening
to patient feedback. Now,
based on a successful trial in
our orthopaedic wards, we are
systematically capturing patient
feedback whilst patients are still in
hospital and sharing this at daily
team safety briefings to promptly
address any issues or concerns
that may arise. Our approach
involves the distribution of yellow
cards which simply ask patients
“What went well” and “What
would make it even better if …?”
These are reviewed by the ward
team at the end of the shift and
where possible any concerns are
addressed immediately. Ward
Matrons collate the responses
to these questions and display
publicly on the ward significant
issues that have been identified
and addressed. This has been
implemented on 25 wards
and departments and will be
implemented across the Trust by
June 2013. We will adopt this
approach over the coming year in
line with our Governors’ priorities.
‘Good’ is not good
enough – we want to
be the best we can
possibly be for our
patients, their families
and carers.