April 28, 2009
We welcomed Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director, and Sir Ian Carruthers, chief executive of NHS South West to the region on April 27, 2009 to see how the NHS is embedding the national quality framework into every day practice.
Both were impressed with the work being undertaken locally and especially the collaborative approach being adopted by our whole health community.
During the day they were taken to Clifton Cornerstone in Nottingham and Derby Hospitals to see for themselves examples of how the quality framework is being taken forward locally. They then met with the chief executives of NHS trusts in the East Midlands to discuss the issue in more detail.
At Derby Sir Bruce heard how Dr Andrew Goddard and his endoscopy team have used clinical data and patient comfort scores to dramatically improve the effectiveness and experience of their procedures. He was also told how the patient safety first campaign was being implemented and of the success of the hospital’s productive ward scheme.
Sir Bruce then joined Sir Ian at Clifton Cornerstone where they heard how commissioners had responded to feedback from the local community by setting up a walk-in nurse access point and how patient experience data is being used to make further improvements at the facility. They were also pleased to hear the excellent working relationship between commissioners and the major local acute provider to agree the quality measures being implemented through CQUIN (Commissioning for Quality and Innovation) contracts.
At the afternoon session with chief executives they were given examples of how NHS Lincolnshire is driving forward quality through its commissioning process and how Kettering General Hospital Foundation NHS Trust is embedding quality from the Board down.
Sir Bruce said: “I come away impressed by what I see and pleased that in many senses the regions are ahead of the Department. It’s not so much how we keep up but how we keep out and facilitate.”
