Improving care, delivering quality

“We were shocked when we realised that we were only spending about 40% of our time with patients,” commented Helen Luton, deputy ward manager on Ward West 3 of Llandough Hospital, near Cardiff. “After implementing Transforming Care we now spend almost 80% of our time caring for patients. It has really changed the way we work.” Transforming Care, is just one of the many areas of work in the Welsh national quality improvement programme 1000 Lives Plus. Patient and staff surveys show higher satisfaction levels for both patients and staff, and there are significant savings in terms of preventing wastage – over £500 worth of medical supplies were saved in the initial stages alone. Patient experience has improved too, as Helen explained: “We have also seen a reduction in the number of falls on the ward, and we have gone 256 days without any patient developing a pressure ulcer on the ward.”

 National commitment to quality improvement

1000 Lives Plus was launched in 2010 as the national improvement programme, supporting organisations and individuals, to deliver the highest quality and safest healthcare for the people of Wales. Every health board and Trust in Wales is supporting the programme, together with universities, students, voluntary organisations, charities, other public sector services and commercial organisations. The programme is focused on building capacity and sustaining and spreading improvements. It supports frontline staff across Wales through evidence-based ‘programme areas’ and provides clinical leadership through its faculty. It is committed to engaging patients and healthcare students in improvement work and promotes an internationally-recognised quality improvement methodology.