The Heart Failure Team at the Trust have picked up two awards at the regional Heart Failure Collaborative “Enhancing the Quality of Heart Failure Care”. The Heart Failure Collaborative was a Kent, Sussex and Surrey Academic Health Science Network event in partnership with the British Heart Foundation.
Heart Failure Team (left to right) – Sian Reid (Conquest Acute Heart Failure Specialist Nurse), Dr Hugh McIntyre (Consultant Physician and Hon Clinical Reader to BSMS), Gemma Baldock-Apps (Cardiovascular Audit and Data Manager), Dr Richard Blakey (Community Heart Failure Clinical Lead, Primary care), Hilda Healy (Eastbourne Community Heart Failure Specialist Nurse), Tracy Croucher (Hastings and Rother Community Heart Failure Specialist Nurse), Sarah Terry (Hastings and Rother Community Heart Failure Specialist Nurse).
The Trust won two awards for acute services:
- Achieving Appropriate Care Score for 6 key measures in the care bundle between 2015 to 2017 – Top Performing – Conquest Hospital
- Achieving Appropriate Care Score for 6 key measures in the care bundle between 2015 to 2017 – Most consistent improver – Eastbourne District General Hospital
Dr Hugh McIntyre, Consultant Physician and Hon Clinical Reader to Brighton and Sussex Medical School said: “Patients struggle to live with Heart Failure. This award acknowledges the hard work and determination of the Heart Failure Teams at the Trust to make sure these patient receive the best care possible.”
Dr Andrew Marshall, Consultant Cardiologist and Lead for Heart Failure and Cardiac Imaging said: “These awards are recognition of the consistent hard work and commitment shown by all the members of the Acute Heart Failure service across the Trust, to providing the best possible care to our patients. We are lucky to have a wonderful team of dedicated individuals, particularly the Acute Heart Failure Specialist Nurses and specialist Cardiovascular Pharmacists. We are also supported by all the other staff on the Coronary Care Unit, James and Berwick Wards, by the Community Heart Failure teams, and by medical colleagues within Cardiology, Acute Medicine and Palliative Care.”
A care bundle is a set of interventions that, when used together, significantly improve patient outcomes. The measures chosen reflect best practice and are based on NICE quality standards or other national guidance delivering good quality safe care.