Health matters June 2015

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June 2015

Issue 14

Gateshead A&E in Country’s top three

A&E care at QE Gateshead has been highlighted among the very best in the country after being named as one of the top three in a major national awards scheme.

The team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital was one of the top three units in the excellence in accident and emergency care awards, part of the CHKS annual Top Hospitals programme for 2015.

The awards celebrate the success of NHS providers across the UK and are awarded to healthcare organ-isations for their achievements in healthcare quality and improvement. The QE made the national finals following a visit by judges and an analysis of 28 key measures covering clinical outcomes and patient experience across the NHS.

Ian Renwick, chief executive of QE Gateshead said: “This is a fantastic bit of recognition for our hospital and particularly the emergency care we provide to people across Gateshead. This has been a particular-ly difficult winter for the NHS right across the county with hospitals facing unprecedented demand for services, so it’s really pleasing to see our A&E unit being rightly singled out for praise.

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QE Gateshead retains top CQC rating

QE Gateshead has once again been named as one of the safest in the country, retaining the top ‘band

6’ rating from the national regulator.

The new inspection system first started in 2013 and The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has now con-

firmed that the QE will remain at a band 6 rating (the highest possible) after figures from the latest

Intelligence Monitoring Report were published.

We are one of the only Trusts in the UK to have been awarded a band 6 rating and also retained it from

its inception. This means that the CQC has recognised the QE as one of the safest places in the country

for patient care.

Ian Renwick, chief executive of QE Gateshead, said: “I’m very proud that we’ve once again been given

the highest rating by the CQC. This is fantastic news for the hospital and for the thousands of patients

we treat every year. It is the strongest possible acknowledgement of the efforts made by our staff to

provide high quality care to all of our patients day in, day out.

“Very few hospitals around the country have been able to achieve and maintain this high standard and I

know that all our staff work so hard to ensure services are safe, caring, responsive to need and well led.

Our managers and front line clinicians are working together every day to ensure that areas of good

practice can be shared across the trust.”

Saving lives with AAA screening This month sees the 100th referral from QE Gateshead’s AAA screening programme to surgery, which has saved the lives of at least 100 local men.

AAA screening is a free national screening programme, run in the north east by QE Gateshead, that screens men aged 65 plus to check if they have an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The screening is by invitation, and men should receive a letter shortly after their 65th birthday. One such man, whose life was saved by the screening programme is 67-year-old Robert Hunt from Nunthorpe in Middles-brough. The biggest danger is that there are no symptoms, and most men have no idea there is a problem until something is found during screening.

Robert said: “When I got the letter inviting me for screening, it was to my local screening centre 15 minutes away, and thought I had nothing to lose so I attended. During the screening my technician found that my aorta was enlarged, and I was at risk of rupture. I knew that this must be unusual when my technician shouted to a colleague ‘I think I’ve found one!’” When asked what advice he would give to other men in the north east who receive their letter but aren’t sure about whether to attend, he said: “I had no symptoms, and for me, this screening has meant an extension of life. If they hadn’t found it, it was in danger of rupturing, and my chance of survival would have been pretty slim. The whole process of the screening took an hour, the staff were all so friendly, and it didn’t hurt at all.” After Robert was found to have an AAA, he had regular check-ups over the next three years to check its size, the growth of an enlarged aorta can be reduced through healthy eating and exercise, and stopping smoking. Once an AAA reaches 5.5cm in circumference it is the point of no return and patients are re-ferred for treatment. Robert was referred to surgeon Ian Nichol, at the James Cook Hospital in Middles-brough, as the 100th man to have been referred for treatment. After discussing his options, Robert opt-ed to have open surgery to have his repaired. Robert added: “The surgery went much better than I thought it would, and after 2-3 weeks I felt abso-lutely fine! Although they do advise it can take 3-6 months before you are back to your normal self. I’ve made a full recovery now, and it means that I’m still around and well enough to play with my grandchil-dren. The screening technicians, the surgical team and the nurses involved in my care have all been su-perb.” To read more about the AAA screening programme you can visit www.qegateshead.nhs.uk/aaa

Taking a stand against alcohol harm

QE Gateshead is supporting an initiative by Gateshead council, health experts and emergency services to tackle the harm caused by drinking too much alcohol in the region.

The ‘Local Government Declaration on Alcohol’ is a show of commitment to act at a local level to lessen the damage caused by alcohol within our communities. The signing comes as the borough continues to suffer some of the worst rates of alcohol harm in England, with the North East topping the ta-bles for the highest rate of alcohol related hos-pital admissions as well as the second highest rate of alcohol related deaths for men. Ian Renwick, Chief Executive of the Queen Eliz-abeth Hospital, said: “At least a third of all A&E attendances are alcohol-related. This doubles again at weekends. Patients who are drunk can be very difficult to treat. They can take longer to assess and their behaviour can be erratic. At times we have to call the Police.” Councillor Catherine Donovan, Gateshead Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being, said: “The harm caused by alcohol is ex-tensive and impacts on a raft of frontline ser-vices, from the NHS, to the Police, to GPs, to the Ambulance and Fire Services, to Social Ser-vices, as well as the workplace. This is not a

problem of a small minority but the entire population. The total cost of alcohol-related harm in Gates-head is £82.98 million per year, with a cost to every resident of Gateshead of £433.” One in four of the Gateshead adult population is estimated to be drinking at increasing and higher risk levels. Hospital admissions due to alcohol-related cancer and alcoholic liver diseases have increased by over 50% in the past 10 years. There are an estimated 13,500 dependent drinkers in Gateshead. Carole Wood, Gateshead Director of Public Health, said: “The way people use alcohol is surrounded by complex social issues. However, we must highlight alcohol as one of the most important public health problems we face today, with rising levels of harm linked to increased levels of drinking over the past few decades. Only by working together will we be able to turn this around.” The Declaration has received backing from the Association of North East Councils, the North East Clini-cal Networks, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service and the region's three Police and Crime Commissioners.

HiSLAC National Survey

All consultants and associate specialists are being asked to complete the second annual HiSLAC survey

- a short anonymised questionnaire to contribute to a nationwide ‘snapshot’ of specialist intensity

and 7-day services.

The HiSLAC (High-Intensity Specialist Led Acute Care) study aims to determine whether having more

specialists in hospitals at weekends will improve outcomes for patients admitted as medical emergen-

cies. In 2014 researchers gathered evidence from more than 14,533 NHS staff and 80 per cent of acute

Trusts in England.

The web-based questionnaire takes just two minutes to complete and will be distributed by the Trust’s

HiSLAC project lead. More information is available here: http://ow.ly/LPWsB

Trust wins funding to continue support

for saving babies lives campaign The Trust has been successful in bidding for funding from the NHSLA (NHS litigation authority) to help

continue support for the saving babies lives campaign by reducing stillbirth rates and perinatal

morbidity.

The funding will help the Trust build on work to reduce stillbirths by utilising CTGs (a piece of equipment

that helps monitor babies during labour) and other methods.

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