January 28, 2011 1.43 pm This story is over 173 months old

Hospital frees up more time for patients

Direct care: The hospital is looking to give more time to its patients after a project proves successful.

A clinic in Lincoln County Hospital has managed to free up 15 hours per week, allowing staff to spend more time with patients.

The hours in the dermatology clinic were freed up because of the Productive Clinic project, which they had worked on for almost a year.

The project allowed the clinic to explore new and efficient ways to free up more time to be spent on direct patient care.

Changes made to the clinic so far include cutting grading clinic referrals, only taking samples from patients who need them and producing clinic letters quicker.

From the dermatology clinic’s results, it is hoped other hospital departments will start to benefit from the project.

Medical Secretary Teri Would, who led the project, said: “The aim of the project is to improve the patient’s pathway through this journey and to identify any delays and areas for improvement.

“The aim is to reduce any waste and improve the effectiveness of the work that we do.”

In addition to the project,the department of medical records have also had a slight revamp to make patient records easier to track.

The medical records department now has colour coded and numbered transit boxes for each hospital department.

“We have calculated that this part of the project saves 1 hour and 55 minutes for every patient case note, which equates to a cost saving of around £14 per case note,” Would added.

“Staff spend less time searching trough hundreds of boxes for the right notes, instead taking just minutes to find them.

“We are pleased that this simple project we have begun is benefiting the hospital as a whole.

“Our project won’t stop here either, we are going to keep on working to identify areas where we can make small changes that will make a big difference to our patients, either by freeing up more of our time to spend with them or making processes simpler so that they are seen and treated more quickly.”

The Productive Clinic Project was created with help from the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s Patient Council.

Source: ULHT | Photo: Newman Ferrara LLP