Trust joins national VTE exemplar network

Safety at CUH has been given a boost thanks to new initiatives which have led to an 80% increase in the number of patients who are assessed for their chances of developing a blood clot.

 

The improvement has seen the number of people risk assessed for venous thromboembolism (VTE) on admission increase from 9.1% in June 2010 to more than 90% from Christmas 2010 onwards. The figures mean that CUH is now exceeding a recent national target of achieving 90% of risk assessments.

 

As a result of the improvements, CUH has been accepted into the national VTE exemplar centre network. The network allows organisations from across the country to share best practice and improve patient care through more effective prevention and treatment of VTE.

 

Assessing patients on the risk of VTE is an important part of the admission process because 7% of deaths in hospitalised patients are due to fatal pulmonary embolism arising from silent deep vein thrombosis.

 

Consultant Trevor Baglin, lead clinician on the project, said: “We have been trying to promote risk assessment and prophylaxis from the point the patient comes into hospital for many years. What has changed is that we now have a systematic approach. We have taken the excellence we had in small pockets and made it Trust-wide.”

 

To drive the improvements, a multi-disciplinary VTE steering group was formed to look at ways of enhancing performance. Drug charts were redesigned to include a clear VTE risk assessment, new policies were drawn up and a VTE e-learning package was developed for staff.

 

Medical director Dr Jag Ahluwalia said: “This has been a tremendous achievement and my thanks go to all those involved. It is fantastic news that we have been accepted into the exemplar network.”

 

 

 

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