News

We are proud to announce that the Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network Improvement Academy and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have won an HSJ Value Award.
The award was for our collaborative work on safety huddles and the impact this is having on patient safety.

Clinical incidents can involve patient harm, demoralise staff and have a financial impact on the organisation involved. The AHSN Improvement Academy worked with Leeds Teaching Hospitals to introduce daily safety huddles on its wards.

These multidisciplinary huddles focused on which patients were at risk of falling and how they could prevent that. Staff reacted positively to the system, saying they felt more empowered and confident to voice concerns and the scheme has spread to other hospitals and other forms of harm.

From an initial pilot involving two wards, 91 per cent of wards in Leeds are now huddling and 45 per cent have achieved a statistically significant reduction in harm. The Trust, as a whole, has seen cardiac arrests fall 25 per cent and falls drop by 34 per cent.

Economic analysis indicates a positive early return on investment of 388 per cent on falls.

With funding support from the Health Foundation, over the past four years the AHSN Improvement Academy has supported nearly 200 teams across Yorkshire to implement Safety Huddles and studied the impact on reducing patient harm and improving team working and safety culture.

Richard Stubbs, our Chief Executive Officer, said: “I’m delighted that the impact of safety huddles has been recognised with this HSJ Value Award – it’s great news for everyone involved.

“Safety huddles are a fantastic example of how AHSNs can work with front line staff to deliver safer care and a better patient experience.”

Alison Lovatt, Director of Nursing at the AHSN Improvement Academy, added: “I feel that winning this award is confirmation that our hard work has been worth it and recognises the achievements of all the front-line teams we’ve worked with.”