NHS Lanarkshire chief executive Professor Jann Gardner and her senior team welcomed Professor Jason Leitch, national clinical director, and Dr John Harden, deputy national clinical director to University Hospital Monklands and University Hospital Hairmyres.
They were joined by the triumvirate and staff at each site to talk through some of the challenges as we go into winter and the work being done to improve patient access and flow through the hospitals as part of Operation FLOW 2.
The team visited the emergency department (ED) at University Hospital Monklands to see how the rapid emergency assessment care team (REACT) helps improve the patient experience and reduce waiting times when patients present at ED and heard how we are now planning to also roll out this model across our other sites.
During the visit to University Hospital Hairmyres they met with senior colleagues from across acute and primary care before visiting the Flow Navigation Centre (FNC), hearing about the very significant work testing and embedding new approaches including senior clinical decision makers to triage patients and develop new service pathways which are better for our patients.
Jann said: “It has been wonderful having Jason and John visit two of our acute sites. As well as meeting some of our dedicated and hardworking staff, we were able to talk about the very significant challenges our services are facing but also share the many positive measures and excellent progress we are making as part of Operation FLOW which will come into place in the coming weeks.
“We were able to showcase some of the new ways of working we are developing to ensure we are ready for winter and to help deliver continual improvement in our services for patients.
Jason added: “I’ve had a terrific day meeting some wonderful staff across both sites. We’ve had a tour of the FNC and front door service to hear from staff about the innovative changes that NHS Lanarkshire are making as a whole system team.
“It’s been busy overnight and is busy again today in the hospitals but all the staff I met were full of enthusiasm describing how they are working together to find new approaches to ensure patients get the best care possible.”
