GS1 UK proudly sponsors the Health Service Journal 2015 Patient Safety category

London, 19 November 2015 – GS1 UK is pleased to announce that West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT) won the Patient Safety award – a category sponsored by GS1 UK, at the prestigious HSJ Awards, which were held yesterday at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The WHHT’s winning project was the “Hip fracture journey through the lives of Alice and Dorothy” – which showcased how standardised care, interdependencies and innovations have improved the quality of outcomes and contributed to the Trust’s success. Its philosophy saw the mortality rate being dramatically reduced from 12% (2012-2013) to 8.9% (2013-1024) to just 5.4% (2014-2015). By redesigning its care around vulnerability and fragility, the Trust has achieved startling success – reducing the length of stay by 2.3 days and the required nursing, while increasing Best Practice Tariff to 80%.

WHHT treats about 450 people annually with hip fractures. After thorough research within the Trust, findings confirmed the existence of disjointed care and the need to improve the different disciplines to deliver compassionate care for the most frail and highly vulnerable people. The Trust’s incentive wasn’t financial, as they were already achieving about 75% Best Practice Tariff (BPT) – they wanted to place people at the heart of what they do.

Mike van der Watt, Medical Director at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "I could not be more proud. We are passionate about patient safety and it’s enormously pleasing that this has now been recognised by this national award. It is clear that this project has saved many lives in west Hertfordshire and it is now rolling out to other parts of the country. Our staff’s hard work and dedication has been commended by national experts on patient safety and this will only encourage us to do even more".

Dorothy, 95 years old with early-onset dementia and an ex-dancer, sustained a hip fracture and went into the WHHT A&E. She said: “I can’t remember how I fell – in hospital, they told me they would put it right and make me feel better. Everything was nicely done, I slept well and was not in any pain. I’m looking forward to going home and still dancing!”

Glen Hodgson, Head of Healthcare at GS1 UK, said: “Our warmest congratulations to the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust for winning the HSJ Patient Safety award. All the shortlisted organisations were selected by a panel of experts from an unprecedented number of nominations – there were over 150 applications for this category.”

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About GS1 UK

For further information or requests for interviews, please contact Tim Haidar: 020 7092 3584 / Tim.Haidar@gs1uk.org.

GS1 UK is a community of over 29,000 members working in retail, foodservice, healthcare and more. GS1 UK is one of 112 independent, not-for-profit GS1 organisations operating across 150 countries worldwide. GS1 UK helps everyone involved in making, moving and trading goods, automate and standardise their supply chain processes using the common language of GS1 global standards.

www.gs1uk.org/healthcare

For more information contact:

Jen Horsman
Instinctif Partners
+44 18 6935 3806
jen.horsman@instinctif.com