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Hello all,
This month we launched Call for Concern at SASH and gave a major update on our Crawley Community Diagnostics Centre. We also said goodbye to our Chair Richard Shaw, and welcomed NHS England’s Chief of Strategy, Chris Hopson to the Trust for a visit. Our Digital team also won a national award for their work on preventing patient pressure damage for those in hospital.
Our services
Launching Call for Concern at SASH
A few weeks ago, we officially launched Call for Concern as part of Martha’s Rule at SASH. Earlier this year, we were one of 143 hospitals to be selected to roll out Martha’s Rule in its first year. Martha’s Rule aims to provide a consistent way for patients and families to seek an urgent review if their or their loved one’s clinical condition deteriorates, and they would like to request a “fresh set of eyes”. Call for Concern will help ensure the voices of patients, families and carers are heard at an early stage and adds to the service we already have available for SASH staff to escalate critical care concerns. It is an important step in our journey to improve patient care at SASH and I am delighted that we have been able to launch before the end of the year. You can find more information about how this new initiative will work on our website.
Update on the Crawley Community Diagnostics Centre
In November we updated the community on our Crawley Community Diagnostics Centre(CDC) – which has already delivered more than 100,000 diagnostic tests at Crawley Hospital since we expanded our services in April 2023. By reducing waiting times and increasing local access to diagnostic testing, the CDC is not only helping tens of thousands of patients get vital NHS tests and checks sooner but is also reducing the number of patients who need to travel to East Surrey Hospital. While the CDC is currently made up of existing clinical spaces at Crawley Hospital, a building project due for completion in 2026 will add new rooms and a “front door” to help increase capacity and make access clearer and easier for patients. Once fully up and running, the hub will offer patients a 12-hour service, six days a week. As well as offering CT scans, x-rays, ultrasounds and now MRI’s, from December a new mammography machine will ensure more patients can have breast cancer checks locally – with 3D biopsy checks only previously available at East Surrey. The introduction of a mobile CT scanner in May, which will be replaced by a permanent machine in January, has also helped cut our diagnostic waiting lists and deliver quicker results for those referred for vital investigations. While there’s still a way to go, it’s great to see the CDC really take shape, and importantly, deliver for our patients.
Using our Emergency Department wisely this winter
In response to a significant rise in demand for our Emergency Department services as temperatures dropped, we issued our first winter message reminding our local community to use NHS services wisely and consider the local alternatives available such as Urgent Treatment Centres, GP practices or NHS 111, before visiting the Emergency Department at East Surrey Hospital, which is already experiencing high numbers of very sick patients for the time of year. It’s therefore vital that those who can receive treatment for minor injuries and illnesses elsewhere do so to ensure there is space in our Emergency Department for those in need of urgent, life-threatening care. During this period of increased demand, I also want to thank our partners for their support in ensuring that we can continue to run safe services for our patients. We know the winter ahead will be challenging and we are doing all we can to support our teams to deliver for those who need our help.
Our partners
Chris Hopson visit
Last Friday we hosted a visit from Chris Hopson, NHS England’s Chief of Strategy, as part of his visit programme to NHS organisations across the country. It was a really positive and engaging visit where we showcased some of our achievements, as well as the issues we face. As well as spending some time with senior leaders and some of our partners, we showed him our work on length of stay and the new Acute Frailty Model and Same Day Emergency Care unit. We also spent some time showing him our Infrastructure, system working, Nursing and Midwifery strategy, as well as our recent digital and SASH+ improvement successes.
Emergency Department visit
Earlier in November we also hosted a visit from our ICB and regional colleagues as part of their joint review of Emergency Department’s across the South East. While they recognised our Emergency Department, like many others, is already under seasonal pressure, they looked at how we are managing safety, quality and patient experience for those in our emergency care pathway and will be sharing best practice from their visits with departments across the region.
Trust news
Richard Shaw
In November we said goodbye to our Chair, Richard Shaw, who retired after more than 12 years at SASH. From 2012 to now, SASH has been on quite a journey. His support to our organisation throughout and to me personally has been invaluable. Richard has always been passionate about putting patients at the heart of his job as Chair and was always finding ways to make a difference. We wish him all the best. As one chapter ends though, another begins, as Dr Anita Donley, our new Chair, has already started her new role at SASH. She brings with her several decades of clinical, quality and patient safety experience, as well as many years of experience as a Chair. I am looking forward to helping her get settled in over the next few weeks. You can read more about her appointment here.
Winning a national innovation award
This month our Digital team won a national innovation award at the annual Imprivata Healthcare Conference for their work on the Trust’s first Digital Care Pathway for Skin and Pressure Ulcer Prevention. The award recognises the team’s work in using Imprivata’s single sign on hand-held Zebra devices - used in combination with an app called Camera Capture - for adding a record of patient pressure damage wounds straight into the patient’s electronic record. This ensured continuity of care and reduced the likelihood of reoccurrence, with clinical teams caring for them having access to a full history of a patient’s skin and pressure ulcer risks. The pathway has been a vital reset in how we as a Trust assess and treat Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcers and has been fundamental in improving patient safety in this area. The Digital team’s innovative work as part of this new pathway was fundamental in supporting our wards to embed this new way of working earlier this year and it is fantastic news that they have now won national recognition.
CQC urgent and emergency care patient survey
In November the CQC published their bi-annual urgent and emergency care survey results. The survey took place between April and July of this year, and I am pleased to say that SASH ranked at joint 26th out of 120 acute Trust’s across the country. Areas where patients said their experience was best included: patient communications on wait times, care after leaving ED, patient information about caring for conditions at home, and compassion. Over the coming weeks we will be looking at these results, and the areas we need to improve on, and incorporating them into our wider improvement work across the Trust.
Best wishes,
Angela Stevenson
Chief Executive