Lancashire Teaching Hospitals anaesthetists rewarded for high quality patient care
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals has been re-accredited under the prestigious Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) demonstrating their commitment to patient safety and excellence of care.
ACSA is the RCoA’s peer-reviewed scheme that promotes quality improvement and the highest standards of anaesthetic service. To receive accreditation, departments are expected to demonstrate high standards in areas such as patient experience, patient safety and clinical leadership.
Dr Phillippa Shorrock, ACSA lead Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said:
“The Department of Anaesthesia and Theatres at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals is the largest Clinical Business Unit in the Trust and spans across both our sites at Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley District Hospital. Gaining our initial accreditation with the ACSA was a result of teamwork, diligent analysis, improvement of governance processes and creation of streamlined procedure. Our initial ACSA accreditation allowed benchmarking of our services and ensured our status as a safe and effective department that we could all as anaesthetists and theatre practitioners be proud of.
Our re-accreditation process took place during and immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic. At a point in the history of our department where morale, wellness and staffing were understandably stretched re-accreditation has given us an opportunity to reset, re-evaluate and recalibrate. I don’t think there is an ACSA lead that wouldn’t agree that the process is challenging and at times feels like a mammoth mountain to climb but at its core achieving reaccreditation is a sign of quality assurance, safety and service improvement. It has allowed stronger relationships with clinical and non-clinical leadership to be forged, communication between theatres and anaesthetics to be further enhanced and has provided an opportunity for change and transformation that has consequently cultivated growth in our department and pride in what we have achieved together.”
Dr Romesh Rasanayagam, lead clinical ACSA reviewer, said:
“One of the good things about being an ACSA reviewer is to visit forward thinking anaesthetic departments that are working closely with the hospital management team to continuously improve patient care. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals are a great example of this. Reaccreditation requires improvement of equipment and policies and practices, and this department has certainly done this. Of particular note is the Flow Academy with its emphasis on continued quality improvement which is obviously delivering for the department and the Trust. Congratulations and well deserved.”
Professor Andrew Smith, Royal College of Anaesthetists Council Member, said:
“I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the entire anaesthetic department on achieving ACSA accreditation. It is very impressive to see the commitment and approach of the whole department to sustaining their standards. They have demonstrated their ability and passion for providing the best possible care for their patients.
“Patient safety is at the heart of what we do as a Medical Royal College. The quality improvement demonstrated during the accreditation process has helped the department manage the immense tasks presented to them by COVID-19 and the resumption of normal services.
“It was impressive to see the innovative practices taking place at the hospital, and the excellent commitment from all staff during the process. As well as meeting the standards, the department demonstrated many areas of excellent advanced practice that have now been highlighted for sharing through the ACSA network.”