The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded top honours at this year’s 2020 Patient Safety Awards, for its work in caring for patients with sepsis and acute kidney injury.
The Royal United Hospital’s SKIP team
The hospital’s Sepsis and Kidney Injury Prevention (SKIP) team was awarded the coveted Patient Safety Team of the Year by the Health Service Journal (HSJ).
Over 1,000 guests tuned in to the Patient Safety Awards this year, which took a virtual format, to celebrate the very best achievements and innovations to minimise risk, enhance quality of care and save lives.
The SKIP team was recognised for its ambition, visionary spirit and the demonstrable positive impact it has had on patient and staff experiences within the health sector.
Sepsis and Kidney Injury are common causes of in-hospital patient deterioration. The SKIP team was recognised for its work to identify deterioration as early as possible, allowing clinicians to make quick decisions about life-saving treatment.
Patients have a much better outcome when treatment is received promptly after they show signs of sepsis.
The team also introduced innovative campaigns to drive improvements and raise awareness among staff across the hospital.
Award judges said: “This winning project is an amazing and inspiring piece of work which clearly demonstrates the desire to improve outcomes for patients.
“There were impressive results, showing improvements in safety across a range of indicators, and great methods of engaging staff. The judges felt that this displayed fantastic learning which should be rolled out nationally.”
Dr Lesley Jordan, RUH Consultant Anaesthetist and Patient Safety Lead, said: “These improvements have been achieved as a result of the exceptionally hard work and dedication of many multidisciplinary staff and I am absolutely delighted that this has been recognised nationally.
“I’m very proud to work with such an amazing team and this will provide a fantastic boost to morale in the current times.”
Sally Marden, Lead SKIP Nurse, added: “The SKIP team is so proud to receive this award. I wish to thank all the ward staff who have attended the teaching sessions and have been receptive to change in practice to keep our sepsis patients safe and improve their outcomes.
“This award is a true reflection of their hard work.”
Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection, when a person’s immune system overreacts and starts to damage the body’s tissues and organs.
Acute kidney injury is when a person’s kidneys suddenly stop working properly, usually as a complication of an acute illness, and this can range from minor loss of kidney function to complete kidney failure.
These can have serious consequences and early detection of both conditions is really important to improve outcomes for patients.
