The Trauma and Orthopaedic team for NHS Lanarkshire, have won an award at the NHS Lanarkshire Staff Awards.
The team, who won the Chief Executive’s Award at the ceremony, immediately accelerated its planned merger from two sites to one service for the whole of Lanarkshire as a result of the Covid pandemic.
This new integrated service has become among the busiest Orthopaedic services in Scotland, while still having one of the lowest waiting lists for clinics and surgery in the country.
Laura Hamilton, Business Support Manager for Trauma and Orthopaedics in NHS Lanarkshire, said: “What makes our team special is our ability to adapt to change, collaborate and ultimately put our patients at the forefront of everything that we do”.
“We were one of the first services to utilise NHS Louisa Jordan so that we could continue to see our patients during COVID. This resulted in over 3000 orthopaedic patients being seen by clinicians during the pandemic”.
“Over the past few years the team have delivered many improvements to the service, one example of this being the reduction in the length of time a patient stays in hospital after a joint replacement. Three years ago, the service had the longest length of stay for joint replacement in the country.
“We are now slightly better than the Scottish mean which is a massive improvement. Furthermore, discharge on the same day as surgery has been introduced for hip, knee and shoulder arthroplasty patients who are clinically suitable”.
“Unfortunately, the pandemic has resulted in an increase in all surgical waiting lists across the country. To help patients during this time the team introduced a bespoke communication which provided supportive advice, links and direct contact with a clinician where needed.
“This was vital in ensuring the patients most in need of surgery were being identified and supported. This is now being recommended as a model by Scottish Government for replication by other boards.
“We also introduced Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT) and nationally have led on this with support from the Scottish Access Collaborative. ACRT provides patients with condition specific information prior to attending an outpatient appointment. ACRT also links with the Realistic Medicine strategy, empowering patients to make informed decisions.
“Improving a patient’s journey through our service is something we are continually striving to achieve”.
Professor Jann Gardner, Chief Executive of NHS Lanarkshire said “At the start of the pandemic, David Murray stepped up from his role as an AHP consultant to take on the post of acting Clinical Service Manager for Orthopaedics in NHS Lanarkshire.
“He used innovative techniques to successfully deliver the merger and integration of the service.
“David Murray and the Orthopaedics team always put patients first, they have personally called patients when there has been cancellation of treatment and they have displayed compassion for patients and staff during an incredibly difficult time.”
Speaking of her department winning the award, Laura said: “Being nominated for a staff award is an honour and to win emphasises the commitment and hard work of everyone within our service. It means a lot to everyone in our team, especially given the periods of change we have just gone through.
“Winning this award has been a massive achievement and as a service we are incredibly proud to have been recognised alongside the other teams nominated. We are an innovated team and recognise that there are areas of the service that still need to be addressed and improved in order achieve our collective goals”.
For more information on the NHS Lanarkshire staff awards and the winners, visit: https://www.nhslanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk/news-nhs-lanarkshire-recognises-inspirational-staff/
