East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

“It’s changed the way I think!” That’s what Dr Sagarika Panday had to say about her experience of our MediLead programme. The programme gives resident and local doctors knowledge about how the NHS system works and quality improvement project experience. Each participant leads a quality improvement project, using the Know, Examine, New and Transform (KENT) methodology, with support from a mentor. Sagarika admitted: “I went in hoping it would be good for my portfolio, but it turned out to be a really empowering tool.” The course consists of eight full-day, face-to-face training sessions hosted from multiple teams within the Trust, including the improvement and transformation team, strategic development, information team, finance, and people and culture. Sagarika said: “I thrive with structure, and the KENT methodology gave me a solid framework for learning, and conducting my improvement project.” As a Simulation Fellow in the Medical Education team at William Harvey Hospital, Sagarika’s improvement project aimed to enhance efficiency in their simulation delivery. She said: “My mentor, Catherine, was so supportive and gave me the best advice. She encouraged me to focus on the small things that I’d stopped noticing. Tackling these little things made it possible to implement real change.” Read more about Sagarika's experience:

A leader who has spearheaded improvements in clinical audit and NICE guidelines implementation was selected for a special award. Sarah Tupper, clinical audit programme lead, received the Special Recognition Award at this year’s EKHUFT Celebration Awards. She was personally chosen by chief executive Tracey Fletcher, who said her nomination stood out amongst all the entries. Presenting the award, Tracey said: “Through their clear and concise leadership, their team has made significant improvements to patient safety across the Trust. “This person highlights the importance of working towards a shared vision, and by leading with our Trust values at their core, to create a high performing team. “Just last year, our compliance with NICE was at four per cent, but we are now looking at 98 per cent compliance, outperforming the target of 90 per cent, which is an incredible achievement in such a short space of time.” Sarah had been nominated in the Compassionate Leader category, and her team praised her kindness and genuine care for every colleague. Her nominee said: “The clinical audit programme has been transformed under Sarah’s leadership with a higher emphasis on audits that meet the requirements for Trust priorities and that address areas of weakness and poor standards of patient safety. “Under Sarah’s strategic leadership, our team has achieved remarkable success in exceeding the ambitious target for NICE Guidance compliance - a task that was both complex and unprecedented when she took over the department. “Her ability to provide clear, concise direction has been pivotal in uniting the team around a shared goal, creating an environment where every member is motivated and empowered to contribute their best. “Through her exceptional leadership, Sarah has transformed the team into a high-performing unit that exemplifies commitment, professionalism, and excellence in service to the NHS.” Colleagues also praised her thoughtful and flexible approach, which has led to a culture of wellbeing and mutual care throughout the department. They added: “This nurturing environment not only supports staff resilience and satisfaction but also directly benefits the Trust by enhancing the quality of patient care. The positive ripple effect of Sarah’s compassionate leadership contributes to improved patient experiences and outcomes, making her an invaluable asset to both her team and the wider hospital community.” Sarah also takes a lead in organising the Clinical Audit Symposium, an event to help educate staff and drive improvements in patient safety through audit. She said: “I was completely stunned and delighted to receive this honour and would like to thank our team for their commitment, and “can do” attitude that has made these achievements possible. They constantly make me proud and I hope that it demonstrates to the other hard working non-clinical teams that the contribution we make does not go unnoticed.”

I’m pleased to share our audit of our Non-Physician led ILR service has been accepted for publication in the Heart Rhythm Journal - A focus on Allied Health Professionals. This audit examined the complication rates of four key complications of loop recorder implants that were performed by either Cardiac Scientists/Physiologists or nurses over a five year period at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. We are pleased to share this low yield of complications, particularly premature explants and infection. We hope to add this information to existing data led by Chris Monkhouse and the Bart’s team, to encourage others looking to set up a Non-Physician led service to take that step forward - once you get going, it’s a very rewarding service to run, and all this information combined shows it is safe and not inferior to physician led implants. I’d like to thank my colleague Iain Thorp for working on this article with me. https://lnkd.in/exf4zsDE

What a day! Today was second AHP celebration at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. We held presentations all morning across our three main sites showcasing the high quality AHP research, education, leadership and clinical interventions occurring across our AHP professions. We wrapped up the day with our CEO and CMNO presenting our AHP awards. We even launched the amazing photography taken by one of our reporting radiographers that will be shortly be displayed within our hospitals. I'm very proud of all of our AHPs #ahpsday Sarah Hayes Jennifer Cotter (Crooke) Kim Perry Suzanne Gray Hayley Smith Charlotte Swoffer Mattia Bertolini

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help radiologists prioritise chest x-rays for patients in our emergency departments has been relaunched. Clinicians started using the AI-powered clinical decision support tool, called qXR and developed by https://qure.ai/, two years ago. It has now been integrated with the radiology picture archiving and communications system (PACS) to provide additional features. The tool generates a secondary image in PACS alongside the original, highlighting potential problem areas flagged by the AI. This helps triage abnormal x-rays for earlier review on the PACS worklist. The AI image is visible to reporting radiologists and radiographers, and referring clinicians, and will flag issues such as cancer, collapsed lungs and tuberculosis. Dr Neelan Das, consultant radiologist and trust clinical lead for AI, said “The first phase of the project gave us the opportunity to assess the accuracy of the AI tool. “Once we had enough data we took time to analyse this and work out next steps, and we now feel it is safe to proceed to the next stage. “This means qXR will help to prioritise chest x-rays in to abnormal and normal worklists to enable faster review by radiologists. “The aim is to reduce any potential delays for patients while they are waiting for their x-rays to be reviewed, and to allow teams to start any necessary treatment faster.” Initial testing found the AI to be at least as sensitive as a senior radiologist. It will be used to help analyse thousands of x-rays every month across the Trust. The AI image does not replace the radiology report but data suggests it can aid with speed of reporting of important findings. This is the latest AI project brought in by the Trust, which has already used other software to help monitor patients’ eye health and detect signs of disease, detect evidence of stroke, and analyse potential lung cancers on CT scans.

Congratulations to William Harvey Hospital's maxillofacial unit, who have been awarded the outstanding employer contribution award by Education Business Partnership (EBP) Kent for the support they provide to work experience students. EBP Kent head of work experience, Emily Beer said: “We truly appreciate the time and effort that employers invest in hosting students for work experience placements. “This commitment provides students with invaluable real-world insights and skills and helps them to understand potential career paths.” Maxillofacial unit manager Donna Parker said: “As a maxillofacial department, we pride ourselves on teaching and education, we always accommodate work experience applicants. “Supporting the community and our future doctors and dentists is very important and we feel honoured to have received this award." Congratulations team!

Our silver superstars are stacking up, with the children’s ED team at WHH the latest to make the grade. The team scored highly in our ward and clinic accreditation process, and received their certificate from chief nursing and midwifery officer Sarah Hayes. Sarah also presented bronze certificates to the team in the adult ED, Kings A2, Cambridge K, and the neonatal intensive care unit and maternity unit at WHH, while site managing director Komal Whittaker-Axon and K&C director of nursing Zilpah Okeyo were also on hand to help celebrate. Ward and clinic specialist nurse Judith Ramsamy said: “It is absolutely fantastic to be able to present another silver award, recognising the incredible hard work of the team in providing the best possible care. “All our teams strive to be the best they can but it takes real commitment to achieve high scores in each of the 13 standards assessed during this process. “Achieving bronze is also no mean feat, and those teams are now working on positive change to improve their scores next time.” The assessing team use a combination of methods, from observing care to looking at DATIX reports, and assess standards including patient experience, medication safety, and recognising and escalating deteriorating patients. Wards are awarded bronze, silver, or gold, or white if they are below the expected standard. Each then creates an action plan to work on improving their scores. The special care baby unit team at QEQM were our first inpatient ward to achieve silver, while the Channel Day Surgery team at WHH were the first non-inpatient area to do so. You can find out more about clinical accreditation on Staff Zone. The team are also appealing for more people to join accreditation visits as peer reviewers – see the dates and how to sign up on Staff Zone.

National politics can feel very divisive at the moment with much debate around immigration and even some protests locally. We are clear that everyone is welcome in our hospitals, whether staff or patient, regardless of their race, sexuality, gender, background or any other characteristic. But we also recognise that some of the behaviour and language you may have witnessed or experienced is deeply disturbing and the tension is spilling into our workplaces and communities. We do not and will never tolerate racist abuse of any kind towards our workforce, and we are proud of our multi-cultural workforce. Everyone should be able to go about their daily business without being subjected to abuse and should feel safe at work. One of our doctors, Henry Aughterson, who is locuming in the emergency department at WHH, kindly gave us permission to share a message he wrote to ED staff, which we wholeheartedly endorse. He said: “With everything going on in the country at the moment, I just wanted to express how proud and grateful I am for the incredible staff in WHH ED who have come to the UK from all round the globe to work here and contribute enormously. “Whether from Nepal, Pakistan, India, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Syria, Egypt, or anywhere else, diversity is such a strength in this department, in WHH, and in the NHS more broadly. “The NHS would crumble to its knees without the hard, uncompromising efforts of its global diasporic staff. I think, as a white British citizen, it's important people like me say that, and I'm so sorry if what's been going on politically has been (understandably) upsetting for anyone here or affecting your life in a negative way - that rhetoric doesn't speak for me or the majority of people in the UK. “It's been a huge privilege to work with you all and thank you for all that you have taught me in my time in ED here, and all that you give back to our communities and society.” Incidents involving racism or hate speech can be reported to safeguarding. You can also contact our Freedom to Speak Up guardians at [email protected] or call 0333 577 2773.

In our #WeAreEastKent staff profiles, we aim to give you an insight into roles across our hospitals💙 Sary joined our Trust in April, but while she is new to the East Kent family, she has decades of experience in her speciality. Sary is an immunology and allergy clinical nurse specialist and worked at the Royal Free Hospital in London for 30 years, with two thirds of that time in immunology. Now based at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, she is helping to set up the new service, including nurse-led clinics and a home therapy service. She said: “I am very lucky to have this amazing opportunity to help start up a new service and am looking forward to working with everyone. “The plan is to expand the service over time, hopefully to the other Trust sites too.” Read Sary's full story:

Congratulations to our special care baby unit (SCBU) team at QEQM, who are silver superstars in our ward and clinic accreditation process. The team are the first inpatient ward to achieve silver in the latest round of accreditation visits, which also saw bronze certificates presented to Sandwich Bay, Fordwich, and Deal wards. Chief nursing and midwifery officer Sarah Hayes presented their certificates, accompanied by QEQM director of nursing Sue Brassington, and associate director of nursing Caroline Judge. Associate director of nursing for paediatrics Sophie Lindsay was on hand to help celebrate the SCBU team. Hannah-Louise Cottle, ward and clinic accreditation specialist nurse, said: “We were delighted to be able to present SCBU with their well-deserved silver award. “It represents a huge amount of hard work and commitment to providing the best possible care to our patients. “During our visit, we were particularly impressed with their family-centred care and teamwork, as well as the feedback and education for students on the unit.” Each area is assessed on 13 patient care standards, including patient experience, recognition and escalation of deteriorating patients, and medication safety. The assessing team use a combination of methods, from observing care to looking at DATIX reports. Wards are awarded bronze, silver, or gold, or white if they are below the expected standard. Each then creates an action plan to work on improving their scores. Channel Day Surgery at William Harvey Hospital were our first non-inpatient area to achieve silver.