Authors: 

• Dr Ishan Wijesinghe, Registrar Anaesthetics, Medway Maritime NHS Foundation Trust
• Dr A C Ruwanmali De Silva, Consultant Anaesthetist, Medway Maritime NHS Foundation Trust

We’re very proud that Medway Maritime Hospital's CEPOD team recently achieved notable recognition for their quality-improvement project with the highly commended prestigious national HSJ Award. This accolade highlights the innovative efforts aimed at enhancing patient safety and outcomes in emergency surgical care.

Dedicated operating theatres for emergency surgery, often referred to as CEPOD theatres, were introduced in the early 1990s to enhance the quality and safety of emergency surgical care. However, the efficient use of CEPOD theatres remains a persistent challenge. The process of ensuring that emergency patients are taken to the theatre promptly and safely is highly complex and depends on a multitude of factors. Our project at Medway Maritime Hospital sought to identify specific inefficiencies within this process and aimed to implement targeted improvements to optimise the utilisation of theatre time.

We conducted our quality-improvement project in two phases.