Buckinghamshire and Dudley shortlisted for Safety Improvement Through Technology Award at 2024 HSJ Patient Safety Awards

Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust and The Dudley Group FT have been shortlisted in the Safety Improvement Through Technology category at the 2024 HSJ Patient Safety Awards, for projects they have implemented with the support of Graphnet Health.

The awards recognise and reward the hard-working teams and individuals who are striving to deliver improved patient care.

Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust is a finalist in the Safety Improvement Through Technology category for its pre-operative assessment transformation. 

They have streamlined surgical pathways and tackling waiting lists with an innovative digital population health dashboard that combines its surgical waiting lists with the Buckinghamshire Shared Care Record. 
The first example of this kind of digital integration in the UK, the dashboard was developed and to tackle waiting lists in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The dashboard supports the identification of high-risk surgical patients, provides targeted support pre-surgery, and also supports the identification of patients suitable for operation in elective surgical hubs.

The time savings have been extremely valuable. For example, previously, all pre-operative patients would have filled a 45-minute clinic appointment. Now, manual triaging by a senior nurse has been completely removed, and 20 out of every 100 patients will avoid a pre-operative assessment completely.

The Dudley Group FT is a finalist for its innovative Paediatric Virtual Ward.

The first of its kind in the UK, the Paediatric Virtual Ward aims to further provide outstanding care to young patients and children. Patients who would otherwise be treated in hospital, are able to be treated in their homes, enabling earlier supported discharge and reduce admissions, all whilst maintaining specialist care.

Patients who are identified as needing to be monitored whilst not requiring acute care are able to return home through the virtual ward, where their family or carers can comfortably monitor and share their vitals through NHS issued Docobo tablets that provide consistent contact with the hospital’s virtual ward team.

Launched in March 2022, the virtual ward welcomed its 1000th patient in May 2024. So far, it has saved over 1,945 bed days.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on September 16, 2024, at Manchester Central.