Heartbeat: Sandwell surgery team hit top three in the Midlands for care

March 6, 2020

Improvements to the quality of care of patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery at Sandwell Hospital has led to the department being consistently ranked in the top three within the West Midlands.

The team has been regularly inputting data into the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA), which compares figures from all hospitals providing emergency laparotomy in England – a procedure to investigate and treat abdominal emergencies such as perforation, obstruction or strangulated hernia.

As a result of the data being analysed, our team can then facilitate new initiatives, improving patient care and outcomes. The increase of recording the information also means the team is on course to receive a Best Practice Tariff (BPT) payment of £100,000.

Christopher Thompson, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon and Lead for Emergency General Surgery said: “The team is trying to improve how we are looking after emergency care patients because they are amongst the sickest people in our hospital.

By improving our data input and accuracy in recording findings we can re-focus our attention onto the care of these very sick patients.”

“The NELA proforma reminds us of what we should be doing and prompts the best care. Also, the BPT incentivised the care of patients with a predicted risk of death of between five to 10 per cent on the critical care unit (to bring emergency care into line with elective care) on the critical care unit. The critical care team are happy to accommodate these patients following a discussion of the best evidence and royal college recommendations.

“The BPT money is ring-fenced for the care of laparotomy patients. The target of the money isn’t decided but could potentially be used on the ward, in theatre or in critical care.”