Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust take home the Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine Team of the Year award

The anaesthetic team at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust was named Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine Team of the Year at the 2019 BMJ Awards held in London on Wednesday 24 April.

The BMJ Awards celebrate excellence in the delivery of clinicians and the teams they work. The team won the College sponsored award for their excellent work in consultant-led perioperative trauma care.

With the age of the population increasing so too does the number of patients presenting with hip fractures and multiple comorbidities. Previously there had been disappointing results in the National Hip Fracture audit. This led to the team at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust starting a seven day, consultant-led perioperative trauma care bundle to improve the outcome of these patients.

As a result of the bundle initiatives, the uptake of patients receiving FIBs increased from 28 per cent in 2014 to 96 per cent in 2018.

Professor Ravi Mahajan, President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists said:

“Dr Subash Sivasubramaniam and the team at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust have shown leading work in consultant-led perioperative trauma care.

“Patient-centred work is key in the field of anaesthesia and making sure that patients are treated from preparing for surgery to recovery as this can make a huge difference.

“The team at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust have shown that perioperative medicine and taking a new approach to trauma care can improve outcomes significantly for patients as well as the NHS as a whole.”

Jay Susarla, Clinical Director for Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust said:

“This is undoubtedly an amazing achievement for the department and the Trust. It would not have been possible without the hard work of our perioperative lead Dr Subash Sivasubramaniam as well as our other colleagues who are part of the trauma and perioperative group, our orthogeriatrician Dr Huma Naqvi, theatre staff and staff on Newton three ward at Sandwell Hospital. It feels great to be recognised.”