The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust anaesthetists rewarded for high quality patient care 

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust has been 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.  

ACSA lead reviewer, Dr Alistair Steel said:  

"The ACSA process was the inspiration and focus we needed to make a number of improvements within our department, taking us from good to great!  We weren’t aware of our ‘blind spots’ until we started working our way through the ACSA standards. We found the Review Team supportive, friendly and full of ideas and suggestions for further improvements and advice on how to overcome sticking points. The ACSA resources such as the best practice library were great at enabling us to learn from other successful departments.  

We achieved things, such as securing funding for important equipment, that would have been really challenging were we not striving to achieve accreditation. We are buzzing with energy having achieved accreditation and we would strongly encourage all Anaesthetic Departments to embark on a pathway to accreditation themselves - you won’t regret it!" 

Dr Satya Francis, Royal College of Anaesthetists Council Member, representing the Royal College of Anaesthetists at the plaque presentation 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.”