KGH team which supports families of acutely ill adults shortlisted for top award

A team at Kettering General Hospital (KGH) that supports acutely ill adult patients has been shortlisted for two top awards for the way it works with families to tackle clinical concerns.

The hospital’s acute illness response (AIR) team has been shortlisted for a HSJ Patient Safety Award in two categories - the patient safety team of the year and deteriorating patient and rapid response initiative of the year categories.

The AIR team consists of expert critical care outreach practitioners, resuscitation officers and sepsis nurses, who assist ward teams in the early recognition and management of acutely ill deteriorating adult patients.

They are in the finals of the HSJ Patient Safety Awards for a new service they launched at the hospital in February called Call for Concern©.

AIR team members, and senior critical care outreach practitioners, Lisa Cornell and Kirsty Datson, said: “Call for Concern© (C4C) is a new service for people who have concerns about an adult patient becoming critically ill while in hospital.

“We know that relatives will often have much greater awareness of what is normal, or not, for a patient and hence may spot subtle signs of deterioration that ward staff would not be aware of.

“Patients or their families can contact the acute illness response team directly through the Call for Concern© service.

“Our team will then determine the best course of action. This may be a to visit the ward to discuss the concerns with the patient and/or their relative or carer and then assess what needs to be done.

“Outcomes could be things like signposting patients and their families to other services for support such from colleagues, such as our patient advice and liaison service, if the patientis not deteriorating.

“But if a patient is found to be deteriorating it could also identify the need for an urgent clinical review.

“We would then liaise with key clinicians, the ward staff, and other healthcare professionals as needed, to ensure a robust plan is in place to address the clinical concern.

“We are very proud to be the first hospital in our region to offer this service."

The ultimate aim of C4C is to prevent patients’ health deteriorating, avoid critical care admissions, and improve the experience of patients, relatives and carers.

Feedback from patients and from other staff members to the initiative has been positive.

100 per cent of families reported to be ‘extremely satisfied’ with the outcome of the call and 100 per cent would recommend the service to others.

Comments have included:

- “As a family we found the service extremely beneficial and it helped us at a difficult time”

- “It allows early detection of problems which are easier to sort out compared to when the patient is really sick”

KGH’s interim director of nursing, Fiona Barnes, said: “I am thrilled that our AIR team has got through to the finals of this prestigious national award for ways that improve patient safety.

“They have helped to empower families in supporting acutely ill patients in a very direct and helpful way. I wish them all great success in the finals next week.”

The HSJ Patient Safety Award finals are being held on September 15.