University Hospital Dorset NHS Trust anaesthetists rewarded for high quality patient care
University Hospital Dorset NHS 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, Seema Quasim said:
“I would like to congratulate the Anaesthetic Department of University Hospitals Dorset on achieving ACSA accreditation. The department has shown their cohesiveness despite being located on several sites and they have clearly worked hard to deliver excellent anaesthetic care across their hospitals after the merger of RBH and Poole. They have maintained a strong patient-focus after pandemic recovery and have adapted well to the new era. They have shown themselves to be forward-thinking and willing to surmount challenges. The department is really welcoming and there are some great wellbeing initiatives in place and I think it would be an attractive place to work. They should be proud of their achievements.”
Dr Deepa Kallayiram University Hospital Dorset NHS Trust, said:
“The decision by our department in 2016 to engage with the ACSA scheme was driven by the desire to continually improve and maintain the quality of the service that we provide to our patients. It allowed us to critically evaluate our service delivery, be reflective, identify gaps and implement change in order to improve our services. Whilst in some areas it confirmed good practice, many other areas benefitted from this review enabling us to provide the highest possible care to our patients and successfully become accredited in 2017.
When we became due for reaccreditation in 2021, this time I truly perceived this to be an even more daunting experience as now we had to achieve this as a merged department with Poole Hospital and also include the Victoria Community hospital in Wimborne, unified as University Hospitals Dorset!!!
A lot of perseverance, resilience, team effort, engagement and cooperation from colleagues across all three sites and the strong determination to achieve accreditation were the key to success. I shared my work and responsibilities with Dr Venu Mehta from Poole Hospital site who stood by me like a strong pillar. Nevertheless did our directorate managers, theatre staffs, recovery staffs, pre-assessment staffs, clinical leads and other department colleagues especially the Vascular, Ophthalmology and the Emergency department support us who deserve a special mention on this occasion without who this achievement would have been impossible.
“Increased morale and team spirit was one of the positive outcomes from this process; we are very proud of all the work put into this process”. Maintaining our ACSA accreditation and achieving re-accreditation has been a source of great pride for us as a merged department.
Our future goals will be to maintain these high standards and ensure compliance all along.”
Dr Jon Chambers 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.”