02.08.17
RCSEd: Improve working environments to protect patient safety
A major surgical college has today called on the government to tackle shortfalls in NHS staff after a survey of its members revealed broad inefficiencies across the NHS workforce.
In a report released by the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSEd), it was also found that poor working environments are having a detrimental effect on patient safety.
On top of that, respondents who ranged from trainees to experienced consultants said that stressful working conditions were compounded by a lack of team structure, poor communication and limited training opportunities – which was having a negative effect on staff morale and wellbeing.
The RCSEd report also supported a recent recommendation by Sir Mike Richards, outgoing chief inspector of hospitals at the CQC, who recently said that funding could be better distributed within the NHS to yield better patient outcomes.
Changes that the RCSEd said they agreed with to make hospitals more efficient included ending the use of very expensive agency nurses and introducing a ‘mini operating theatre’ to allow trauma patients requiring plastic surgery to avoid being cancelled from the main trauma centre. This minor theatre could also be run at 75% less cost than a fully operating theatre.
A set of seven recommendations were tabled in the report to combat some of these common issues, including establishing a structured senior support system that places consultants at the forefront of delivery of care.
The RCSEd also said it supported the reintroduction of the hospital mess to protect doctors and give them an environment where they can socialise with colleagues and unwind.
Recommendations for a more intelligent design of rotas and a streamlined and better organised workload priorities system were also suggested.
“While the issues facing the NHS are broad and complex, we should not lose sight of the fact that strain within the system ultimately has an impact upon individual lives,” said RCSEd president and consultant general and colorectal surgeon Professor Michael Lavelle-Jones.
“As a college, we have been deeply saddened and concerned in recent years by the deaths of several doctors in training, in circumstances believed to be associated with work-based stress or tiredness.
“This report offers a snapshot into what a cross-section of UK healthcare profession thinks is lacking from their working environment. It is the college’s responsibility to represent the views and offer potential solutions to the wider profession and to the government.”
The report’s co-authors Mr Simon Paterson-Brown and Mr Richard McGregor added that with the immense financial strain and staffing problems facing the NHS it is essential to look seriously at how the whole working environment can be improved for all those delivering frontline surgical care.
“This is a team effort and action needs to involve everyone in the team. While lack of additional resources are clearly one of the problems, it is also about much better use of current resources and changing how we do things to become more efficient and more productive,” they explained.
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