Public Board papers 31.03.22

• Challenges Due to the pressure on other departments, AAU staff have been supporting the wards with nurses which at times has put pressure on the AAU staff and affected morale within the team. The staff are aware of this for safety reasons; however, day to day working on the AAU is becoming increasingly difficult due to acuity. With the help of the new Safe Care Acuity Tool, I am hoping this will have a positive impact to reflect the acuity of AAU. Patient flow is becoming increasingly difficult and often we are still carrying out late transfers and receiving late admissions from outpatient areas. Often this is out of their control for transport reasons, acuity etc, which leads to the AAU receiving admissions between 8pm and midnight which has significant pressure on acuity for the night staff. We are due to have a meeting within the acute oncology division to try to improve patient flow and looking at a ‘transfer’ nurse to facilitate discharges on medical wards and therefore improve flow. Surgical Oncology Unit (Ward 10) Ward Managers professional judgment (achievements & challenges) • Evolution/development of service Clinical and Nutritional assistant (Band 3). Collaborative working with ERAS. Positive impact on service and patient experience. APIC project planning. Creating a safe and sustained service for surgical patients requiring high frequency observations in the initial 12 hour post-operative period within a ward setting. Bowel preparation given at home to enable patients to be admitted on the day of surgery instead of the day before reducing overall hospital LOS. Significant reduction in hospital bed days Jul 21- Dec 21 Ward Manager is prioritising the need for an SOP including inclusion/exclusion criteria of surgical patients nursed outside the surgical division to maintain all surgical flow with clear support and guidance for nurses with limited or no surgical experience. Continuing support for the GM surgical hub programme. Collaborative approaches to shared learning within the surgical division (OCCU, pre-op, ERAS, Pain control team) eg SAFER project, Criteria led discharge. Development of HCA role: Clinical Practice Educator (CPE) providing CWP training and education for hygiene check lists, documentation of ted stockings, fluid balance and skin bundles – audit in progress • Achievements Maintaining surgical activity with bed numbers spread between ward 10 and TCPC and ensuring surgical hub patients are treated in a timely manner to ensure best outcomes is our biggest achievement. Consistently high positive patient feedback team using emails and newsletter. Comment ‘Ward 10 truly represents what the NHS is in every way, caring, compassionate, empathic and giving 100 %’

67