NNUH Nominated for Two Health Service Journal Patient Safety Awards

We’re delighted to announce that two teams from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Trust have been nominated and shortlisted for Health Service Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Awards. The Pressure Ulcer Improvement team behind ‘Ginty’s Goggles’ have been shortlisted as finalists in the ‘Best Emerging Solution for Patient Safety’ category. The NNUH Maternity team have been shortlisted for a ‘Patient Safety Education and Training Award’ for Human factors training and safety culture in a tertiary maternity unit.

Ginty’s Goggles are virtual reality training goggles created by Sheila Ginty (Tissue Viability Sister), Caroline Linkhorn (Senior Matron), Diane Rowland (Critical Care Clinical Nurse Educator), and Michelle Wigger (Sister, Earsham Ward), with development of the goggles undertaken by Dr Jordan Tsigarides. The goggles enable staff to conduct a virtual skin inspection and learn to recognise key indicators that may lead to hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. The project came about after 15 pressure ulcers were recorded on Earsham Ward from January – May 2018, and the team decided that changes needed to be made to improve the situation. The goggles were created alongside a host of other safety and training initiatives, in addition to the ward joining the national Pressure Ulcer Collaborative.

The Maternity Human Factors training was put in place at NNUH to determine whether the implementation of a maternity orientated human factors training programme could improve safety culture. Human factors have long been recognised by other safety critical industries as key contributing factors in adverse events. These include breakdowns in communications, poor decision making, lack of clear leadership and poor team working. In medicine, human factors – also referred to as non-technical skills – are widely acknowledged as contributing to medical harm. The training aimed to establish the safety culture in the maternity unit, design and implement a sustainable maternity orientated human factors training programme, and generate a faculty of trainers from multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals to deliver the training. The project has been successful and is proof-of-concept that maternity orientated human factors training can improve safety culture.

The nominations are further proof of the continued strive towards improvement and excellence at NNUH, and represent just two examples of the innovations and hard work NNUH staff take part in on a daily basis.

Successful projects will receive their awards in Manchester on Tuesday 2 July 2019 at the National Patient Safety Congress.

Tissue Viability Sister Sheila Ginty encouraging people to try out Ginty’s Goggles.

Members of the NNUH Maternity team.