The department of general surgery (pictured) have won a prestigious award for their work improving patient’s survival after emergency operations.
They were awarded the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) Prize Paper at the International Congress of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland in Belfast.
The department has completely changed the way it works over the last 2 years, changing from the traditional model of on-call rotas to a shift system.
This means that consultants are more available to see and treat people quicker than ever before. These changes have resulted in a reduction in the risk of dying after major emergency surgery by almost half, meaning that our department is one of the safest in the country for this type of care.
Consultant in Colorectal surgery, Adrian Smith, told us: “Patients undergoing emergency surgery are some of the sickest that we treat and it is very rewarding to see such an improvement in their outcomes. Consultant delivered care is now routine 24 hours a day.
“As a department we came up with the new rota ourselves and have been very lucky to have had the support of both clinical and non-clinical managers. It is very pleasing to now be able to show the obvious benefits this has brought to patients and to have this recognised at a national level.
“At the congress there was significant interest in the model we have developed from other surgeons who were very keen to introduce similar changes at their hospitals.”
