- Teesside Trust achieves huge efficiency savings through Medicines Optimisation Quality Improvement programmes Getting best value for medicines is one of the core business priorities for the Pharmacy & Medicines Optimisation team, through significant collaboration with the multidisciplinary teams of senior medical, nursing, finance, and wider commissioning teams. The different work streams that contributed to the savings included medicine switches in consultation with consultant medical colleagues, ensuring compliance with best value regional contracts, clinical audit of outpatient prescribing in line with national policy, liaising with third party Homecare companies and ensuring that robust processes are in place for minimising medicines waste within the organisation. You can read about the significant level of engagement across the organisation and beyond with partners as well as local and specialised NHS England Commissioning teams.
- A bloodstream infection (BSI) is a recognised risk associated with parenteral nutrition (PN) administered via a central venous catheter (CVC). It can be life-threatening, leads to an extended hospital stay and, for patients reliant on PN, it can mean 7-14 days without nutrition. NICE estimate that the cost of each catheter-related BSI is £9,000.50% reduction in the incidence of BSI associated with a CVC in patients receiving PN in an adult ward by end of 2018.
- Two great initiatives to get to know your finance teams
- More than 120,000 patient meals ordered using new electronic ordering system Staff on the wards at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) and Furness General Hospital (FGH) now order inpatient meals using tablet computers on the same day rather than having to fill in a paper form and taking it to catering staff a day in advance. A staggering 122,333 meals have been ordered on 14 wards at RLI and nine wards at FGH. The old process could take ward staff up to one hour 30 minutes to complete. Not only do the staff on the wards have more time to spend on patient care, the tablets have significantly reduced food wastage by 45%, which is a reflection of the Trust’s commitment to become more eco-friendly and efficient.