FEATURE ARTICLES

The BSG Annual meeting 2018 will take place at the Liverpool ACC from 5-8 June 2018. Building on the successes of previous years, the event will showcase the best of British gastroenterology, hepatology and endoscopy, with hundreds of abstracts being presented orally or as posters. With 49 different symposia, the meeting will cover all aspects of GI and liver care.

A growing body of evidence is adding to our understanding of patient warming and the important contribution this has for patients undergoing surgery. It is widely recognised that best practice is not being implemented with any consistency. However, the availability of a new checklist could help ensure improved compliance.

Lean Management (Lean) is an approach that aims to create value, improve productivity and minimise waste within an organisation. Leyton Stevens, chief executive officer of BES Rehab, explains the principles and the benefits of Lean and how they may be applied within the NHS.

Vice president of Stantec’s UK practice, David Martin, discusses the role of architectural best practice in supporting translational research, to ensure innovations in the laboratory are rapidly transposed into successful improvements in patient outcomes.

Universal health coverage is about ensuring people have access to quality affordable healthcare. Kate Woodhead RGN, DMS examines why this is not just a requirement, but the foundation for individuals to lead productive and fulfilling lives.

Achieving optimum patient flow is at the very top of the healthcare agenda – it i s a barometer for the health of the NHS itself. James Ferris, account manager for Aptean Medworxx, walks through the advantages of adopting a software-based system to deliver the evidence-based benefits prescribed by NHS Clinical Utilisation Review (CUR) policy.

What is claimed to be the world’s first magnetic surgical guidance system issupporting the early treatment of breast cancer. The Clinical Services Journal speaks to Endomag, to find out more.

While bowel cancer mortality is decreasing, Bowel Cancer UK argues that further lives could be saved by improving early screening of high risk patients, targeting research gaps and ensuring MDT involvement in decision-making for patients with advanced bowel cancer.

When Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust sought to optimise the use of critical medical equipment across three hospitals, it selected a system to automate the tracking of more than 2700 assets that are an integral part of providing high-quality patient care.

The WannaCry ransomware attack caused chaos for those attempting to assess the vulnerability of medical equipment. Paul A Blackett, medical engineering operations manager and M.Wilkinson, medical engineering projects and planning officer at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, provide insight into a classification system that has been developed to aid practical assessments.

The Central Sterilising Club’s Annual Scientific Meeting takes place on16to17 April 2018 at the Marriott Hotel, Cardiff. With topics ranging from endoscope decontamination, staff training and transportation requirements, to washing optimisation, medical device equipment processing and tracking systems, the event provides expert advice on a broad range of infection prevention & control issues.

The healthcare profession is filled with lone workers facing risks and hazards aplenty on a daily basis. Mathew Colley, sales & marketing manager at lone worker protection specialist LoneAlert asks: while our health workers are looking after us, who is looking out for their safety?

EBME chairman, Dr John Sandham, discusses what to expect at this year’s EBME Seminar and Exhibition. The seminar is an independent educational event bringing together healthcare professionals who are responsible for the management of medical equipment.

Emergency admissions cost the NHS £13.7billion in 2015-16 and pose a serious challenge to both the service and financial position of the NHS. A new report by the National Audit Office(NAO) reveals that the task of managing these admissions urgently needs addressing.

The shortage of radiologist staff has long been a major concern for UK Trusts. Despite the latest workforce report underlining that there seems to be “no end in sight” for the imaging doctors staffing crisis, are things as bad as they seem?

Proven innovations have taken too much time to be adopted by the NHS in the past,but some key initiatives aim to tackle this issue with the aim of improving patient outcomes.

Kate Woodhead RGN,DMS unwraps ath ree yearglobal campaign whichhas been developedinabid to highlight thecritical work of nursing.

With a career spent running training in the medical device industry, Steve Dickson, training academy manager at Avensys UK Training, believes apprenticeships should be made more accessible and widely used to help address healthcare recruitment issues and skills shortages.

Is there need for a different approach to digital transformation? Chris Barker, CEO, Spirit Healthcare, argues that the best healthcare gains will come from CCGs exploring more localised initiatives that take into account fluctuating local contexts and dynamics. So can incremental innovation really drive sustainable healthcare gains?

The arrival of Virtual Reality (VR) as a collaborative vehicle allows clients to be involved and invested throughout the design and planning process. Scott O’Malley, marketing manager at Medstor, illustrates how VR can work within a wide variety of healthcare scenarios.