Quality improvement for surgical teams

Since 2009, the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s SSI Group has reduced its surgical site infection rate by a factor of 10 in orthopaedic surgery. As part of its commitment to driving improvement and sharing best practice, the Trust organises an annual, free educational programme for surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, from across the NHS.

The event, Quality Improvement for Surgical Teams (QIST), recently took place at the Marriott Gosforth Park, Newcastle, and provided an insight into enhanced recovery and prevention of surgical site infection (SSI) with the aim of improving outcomes. The Clinical Services Journal attended the second day of the conference, which focused on SSI prevention strategies and surveillance, in the surgical specialties of orthopaedic, breast and C-section. The programme covered a diverse range of themes – from evidence-based practice, guidance and delivering behaviour change in theatres, to patient case histories and video footage of a patient’s harrowing experience of SSI. 

In his opening welcome, the Trust’s chief executive, Jim Mackey, commented that many interventions have been tried, measured and evaluated, at the Trust, over the years, which have had a significant impact. However, it is wrong to assume that SSI is a problem which is ultimately ‘fixed’ – infection rates can fluctuate and new, emerging challenges must be identified and addressed. Tackling SSI requires a continuous process of improvement and efforts need to be sustained.