Published 16 June 2022
A team from East Kent Hospitals have been named healthcare heroes in a national award scheme.
The clinical audit team in the critical care unit at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford won the patient safety category of the Clinical Audit Heroes awards, organised by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP).
Their project focussed on preventing ‘never events’ – serious patient safety incidents – from occurring from nasogastric and feeding tubes wrongly being placed into the lung.
The awards were announced as part of celebrations for Clinical Audit Awareness Week this week, organised by HQIP in collaboration with the National Quality Improvement (Including Clinical Audit) Network.
Judges were impressed by the team’s structured approach to identifying the problem and finding a solution, as well as their evidence of improvement and commitment to continuing improvement of patient safety.
Gemma Millen, quality and audit specialist nurse for critical care, who worked with fellow specialist nurse Angela Hall, audit collator Free Morgan and Jess Magsombol, senior nurse for critical care and nutrition link, said the team was delighted with the award.
She said: “It is fantastic to be recognised in the Clinical Audit Heroes awards.
“Clinical audits help to improve the care our patients receive, and provide evidence when we’re getting it right and help us to identify areas where we need to focus our improvement efforts.
“It was a real team effort and it’s lovely to receive the award but our motivation is making a difference for our patients.”
Clinical audit helps the Trust ensure it is meeting local and national standards and targets, and clinical audit teams are key drivers of improvements.
Jane Ingham, chief executive of HQIP, said: “Without clinical audit, there would be no intelligence on which to evidence the success of NHS services and track the differences that improvement activities make.”
