Patients First OLD VERSION

The Trust's major change programme - Patients 1^st - was launched in May 2008 and a great deal of progress has been made across the trust since then.

Patients 1^st's main aim is to establish our hospital as a national leader in safe, compassionate and convenient care. So that we can achieve this we run and support a number of projects across the Trust.

All of these projects are all designed to help us achieve our main aim in one way or another. Similar projects are grouped together into themes: Safety and Quality, Access and Convenience, and Compassionate and Respectful Care.

Every month the people who manage the different projects meet together in steering groups to discuss the progress that has been made, and seek to resolve any issues that might have developed. They meet according to the theme in which the project is grouped. The programme office particularly runs a number of cross departmental projects and also offers support to all the project leads across the Trust.

Most of the projects that the Programme Office runs are done so using a particular project management methodology called "lean". "Lean" was developed in industry, particularly in factories, and is used across different types of businesses, in the armed forces and has been developing in the NHS for a number of years.

We use Lean to improve the everyday processes within the hospital which, in one way or another, impact on our patient's experience.

Lean methods have been used to streamline and increase the efficiency of some patient journeys in the Royal Surrey and this has involved:

• Viewing the whole patient journey with the team of people involved in the patient's care to identify what is of value to the patient.  (process mapping)
• Making the process flow for the patient, i.e. reducing queuing and waiting time
• Reducing waste, which includes patients waiting unnecessarily, staff having to search their ward for an item of equipment, or work being repeated by different departments.
• Pursuing perfection i.e. ensuring the patient gets the right care on time with no mistakes. (continuous improvement)

We have developed a detailed internal training programme, so that as many of our staff as possible are able to run successful lean projects. This, combined with awareness raising sessions, means that all staff are able to continually improve the way we deliver care to our patients.

There are currently over 20 projects underway across the Trust, some of which will be completed in the next two to three months and several new projects are being defined at the moment.  We update our staff and patients regularly using the Hospitals magazine- "The Royal Reporter". Also keep an eye on the local papers and the website for further updates and achievements.

The key aims of the programme are to:

• Deliver outstanding patient safety and the best clinical quality and outcomes. Initiatives include:
  • Clinical Outcomes and making them publicly available
  • Reducing the number of falls amongst inpatients
  • Medication errors
  • Nutrition
  • Infection prevention and control
• Offer compassionate, empathetic and respectful care for all our patients and their families. Initiatives include:
  • Patient satisfaction exit survey
  • Behavioural standards & values for all of our staff
  • Customer care training
• Organise services in a streamlined and user-friendly fashion, so that we can offer unrivalled ease of access and convenience for our patients. Initiatives include:
  • Looking at patient flow through the hospital, to ensure that it is as seamless and efficient as possible. 
  • "The Productive Ward" - a national initiative which looks at making wards as efficient as possible.
  • Investment in new technology to help deliver patient care