Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust tops review of emergency general surgery in SW

A review looking at how emergency general surgery (EGS) is provided at hospitals in the South West has found that Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is meeting the highest number of standards in the region.

The review, commissioned by the NHS South West Clinical Senate, looked at the 14 NHS Trusts within the South West Peninsula and measured them against 22 specific standards relating to EGS. It found that Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust met 19 of these.

Dr Phil Hughes, Medical Director of Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I would firstly like to take this opportunity to applaud the efforts of our staff, who work incredibly hard to ensure our patients are cared for, seen and treated as quickly as possible, whether this is for surgery, an investigative and/or diagnostics procedure.

“We welcome such reviews as they enable us to work with our clinical teams to improve patient outcomes and processes, sharing best practice with our neighbouring trusts.

“Of course, the work doesn’t end here. We need to ensure that we continue to achieve the 19 standards we are already meeting, as well as put in place plans to work towards those that we are not meeting just yet.”

The report for Plymouth states: “Plymouth is currently meeting more standards than any other Trust in the South West.”

The report acknowledges that there are improvements that Plymouth Hospitals should make to its emergency general surgery service but it also recognises that “whilst their [Plymouth’s] provision of theatre time is ahead of the majority of South West Trusts, they are also subject to a great deal more patients and can, at times, experience delays with availability of theatre operating slots.”

Other improvements recommended by the Clinical Senate for Plymouth, include: ongoing audit and review, the appointment of a dedicated lead for EGS, as well as a lead EGS nurse. It is also suggested that Plymouth explores the option of expanding its ambulatory pathway, which would further enable a reduction in admissions and length of stay.

The standards are derived from a combination of sources, including: Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) (2011) Emergency Surgery: Standards for Unscheduled Surgical Care, London Health Audit (2012) Quality and safety programme, NHS Services, Seven Days a Week Forum (2013). These were reviewed and adapted by an expert panel to be used as the commissioning standards to assess all South West acute trusts that deliver an emergency general surgery service.

As part of the review, all acute trusts undertook a self-assessment against the standards, producing documentary evidence, as well as the detailed plans that would enable compliance with a standard, where it identified itself to be ‘not met’.

Once the evidence was submitted, it was reviewed by members of the South West Clinical Senate review team, who identified key lines of enquiry prior to visiting each of the acute Trusts.

To read the South West Clinical Senate’s review of Emergency General Surgery at Plymouth Hospitals, click here.