BMJ nominations hat-trick for the RUH

Three innovative projects from The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH) have made it to the final stages of The British Medical Journal (BMJ) Awards.

The awards recognise the work of healthcare teams across the country. This year, there were more than 350 entries across 15 different categories.

Dr Lesley Jordan and her Emergency Laparotomy team are shortlisted in the Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine Team Award category. The team provides emergency abdominal surgery and has implemented a process to improve the care given to high risk patients before, during and after their operation.

Dr Jordan said: "This is an amazing multidisciplinary achievement for the whole team, including ward, theatre and intensive care staff, as well as junior doctors, consultant anaesthetists and surgeons. By standardising a high quality process, we have significantly improved outcomes for patients who need high risk emergency abdominal surgery. I am exceptionally proud of the entire team for their dedication and enthusiasm at all times of the day or night when these procedures occur. We're also sharing our Laparotomy work and learnings with other hospital across the country."

Staff from our Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) team were recognised in the Diagnostics Team Award category. Their specialist scanning service has been influential in the treatment of cancer and dementia patients. The scanner was bought thanks to fundraising by the Bath Cancer Unit Supporters Group charity and its Trowbridge branch. It raised almost all the £1.3m required to purchase and equip the PET-CT scanner, which was installed and opened in 2016.

Stewart Redman, Consultant Radiologist said: "We have worked hard over the past few years to create a high quality local PET/CT service, which is mainly used in the investigation of cancer and dementia. Our state-of-the art PET-CT scanner provides detailed and precise images of cancer cells in the body and we were the first hospital in the South West to have a purpose-built fixed scanner. Having this scanner and trained staff at the RUH can be potentially lifesaving as we can identify what treatment our patients need more efficiently without them having to travel outside the area."

In the Education Team category, our innovative 'Bath Tea Trolley' training team has also been named as a BMJ Award finalist. The tea trolley training method was designed by Dr Fiona Kelly, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, with the aim of delivering education and training to frontline staff in operating theatres and on the wards.

Fiona said: "The tea trolley initiative is a mobile training station, consisting of a trolley with educational materials on the top and tea, coffee and cake on the bottom. We take this trolley to provide multidisciplinary training in their workplace during the normal working day. We have used this method to run over 16 training programmes in Bath to date, teaching staff to perform emergency practical procedures and allowing us to disseminate new protocols and guidelines, followed by refreshments! Because it provides high-quality training in the workplace, it reduces the need to take study leave or pay for expensive courses. It's been exceptionally well received."

As part of the judging process, our teams will need to present to a judging panel. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on 10 May.

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

• The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust provides acute treatment and care for a catchment population of around 500,000 people in Bath, and the surrounding towns and villages in North East Somerset and Western Wiltshire. The hospital provides healthcare to the population served by four Clinical Commissioning Groups: Bath & North East Somerset CCG, Wiltshire CCG, Somerset CCG and South Gloucestershire CCG.
• The Trust has 759 beds and a comprehensive range of acute services including medicine and surgery, services for women and children, accident and emergency services, and diagnostic and clinical support services.
• In 2015 The Royal United Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was acquired the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) NHS Foundation Trust. The RNHRD treats patients from across the country offering services in rheumatology, chronic pain and chronic fatigue syndrome/ME.
• The RUH is changing - we have an exciting programme of redevelopment underway transforming our site and further improving the services we provide. The Trust is now working towards building a purpose built RNHRD and Therapies Centre and a new Dyson Cancer Centre. For more details visit: www.ruh.nhs.uk/fit4future
• For more information about the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust visit: www.ruh.nhs.uk

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