FEATURE ARTICLES

A novel project has been developed to test thousands of management strategies in seconds. Mark O’Donnell from Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Andy Moore from Frazer-Nash Consultancy describe how technology could help managers to make the best decisions without putting patients at risk of harm.

With an estimated 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK and an expected increase to 1 million by the year 2025, there has never been a more important time for clinical studies into this devastating disease. The Clinical Services Journal asks consultant neuroradiologist Dr Emer MacSweeneyhow her team in Harley Street Medical Area are paving the way for a future without the disease.

Last year, the Royal Devon and Exeter (RDE) NHS Foundation Trust ran a pilot scheme showing how adopting highly accurate, laboratory quality testing on admission can help to control the spread of influenza and mitigate the effect this can have on patient flow and bed management.

On Wednesday 14 March 2018 delegates will head to the Marriott Forest of Arden in Warwickshire for the Theatres and Decontamination Conference 2018, with an event programme built around subjects suggested by healthcare personnel.

As the UK’s Five-year Strategy comes to an end this year, the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance continues to dominate the headlines. However, are we making progress? Which pathogens are proving to be problematic and how should we be moving forward to tackle the threat of AMR in the future?

Length of stay in acute care hospitals is under increasing pressure to reduce costs per patient stay, as well as releasing bed capacity. Technical editor, Kate Woodhead RGN, DMS, examines the importance of a continual assessment process to ensure that there is no compromise to the patients’ recovery.

The UK’s medical profession is at ‘a crunch point’ and will suffer increasing pressure over the next 20 years unless action is taken. This is the stark warning from the General Medical Council’s State of Medical Education and Practice report.

Professor Bob Stone, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, has more than 30 years’ experience of Virtual Reality (VR) with his systems and technologies being used around the world by the likes of BAE, MOD and now NHS Trusts. Chris Shaw asks Prof Stone how these systems are being integrated into healthcare environments.

Nursing staff at Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are using specialist monitors to enhance the quality of observations, to spend more time actively interacting with patients, and to help deliver the best nursing possible. Here, the staff share their experiences direct from the wards.

Innovation in child prosthetics has seen great advances in recent years. Raj Purewal, business development and partnerships director at NHS innovation specialist, Trustech, discusses a new project that aims to increase progress in this field even further.

There has been significant investment in research in the field of cardiovascular disease. The Clinical Services Journal explores some of the latest findings to hit the headlines.

Departmental technologies like PACS are changing and breaking free of their traditional roles, and being redefined to respond to patient needs across the entire hospital, according to former NHS radiographer, Chris Scarisbrick, from Sectra UK & Ireland.

Alcohol hand sanitisers are currently recommended for use by many healthcare organisations across the world, including the World Health Organization (WHO). However, a group of authors claims a multi-centre “real time” study of Colony Forming Unit (CFU) counts on human skin show that this advice may actually be detrimental.

Each year, the Quality Improvement for Surgical Teams Conference (QIST) highlights the latest research and expert insight aimed at improving outcomes for patients undergoing surgery. Kate Woodhead RGN DMSreports on some of the topical themes for discussion raised at this year’s event.

Technical editor Kate Woodhead RGN, DMS, attended the OneTogether partnership conference in Birmingham, where two new resources were unveiled for perioperative practice, to reduce surgical site infection.

As the NHS comes under financial pressure amid reports of shortages in staff, Louise Frampton believes the lessons learned from Mid Staffordshire provide a reminder that dignity, compassion and respect, which underpin the principles of ‘patient-centred care’, can be eroded if we are not vigilant.

With the NHS under pressure to do more for less, it’s time to reap the full potential of medical technology for patients, the economy, and society, argues Barbara Harpham, chair of the Medical Technology Group.

In February 2017 Knowlex, working with NHS Improvement, NHS England and Public Health England brought together more than 400 attendees to explore the initiatives around GNBSI and sepsis announced by Jeremy Hunt and Sir Bruce Keogh in 2016

As the NHS celebrates its 70th birthday, technical editor Kate Woodhead RGN, DMS, explores a programme designed to manage the needs of elderly people, which is already revealing better clinical outcomes.

Following the death of a patient from hepatitis B, in which an ultrasound probe was implicated, the need for improvements in decontamination practices has been high on the agenda. However, some hospitals continue to use inadequate decontamination procedures and gaps in knowledge remain in how to treat these devices to prevent patient harm. Automated systems could help standardise the process and improve traceability.