Heartlands Emergency Department
The Emergency Department (ED) Safety Project made a significant difference to the ED at Heartlands Hospital. This was achieved by reconfiguring the department to increase overall capacity and creating a new operational policy.
The Minors area was relocated to the former fracture clinic and the patient capacity in Majors was increased by extending into the space vacated by Minors. This involved building works in an empty ward template to accommodate the relocated fracture clinic.
Engagement events took place which identified new ways of working across ED, Fracture Clinic and Therapies. This also enabled the co-location of Fracture Clinic and Therapy Services.
One of the new ways of working adopted by ED has resulted in the successful opening of High Dependency Care cubicles within the Majors area. This has been designed to provide a high level of patient care near to the resuscitation (resus) area. This allows a ‘step down’ facility for patients who no longer require to be in resus, freeing the resus bed for the next patient.
During the winter of 2015/16 the Chief Executive of the Trust acknowledged the impact of this project to help alleviate patient safety concerns.
Endoscopy Unit Solihull Hospital
The PDT played an important project management and supportive role, driving forward the creation of a second Endoscopy Room on the Solihull site. This has given the Gastroenterology department an increase in capacity to manage their demand.
Cystic Fibrosis
The Cystic Fibrosis (CF) service at Heartlands Hospital is a regional service. The Respiratory Department identified that current capacity did not meet demand to provide care within national guidelines. The department were also aware that demand would increase due to the number of paediatric patients identified by the Birmingham Children’s Hospital who would transition to the adult service at Heartlands.
The PDT Team and the CF team identified the cause of the capacity gap and worked through a variety of options to increase capacity within the current footprint. The CF team were supported throughout the writing of a business case to gain approval of the preferred option. As a result approval was gained to upgrade 4 negative pressure rooms in 2018 which will support the increase in demand on the CF service.
