Category > Transforming systems and services

Supporting primary care – listen to our webinars

News

Recordings of three COVID-19 webinars from the Royal College of General Pratictioners (RCGP) and the national AHSN Network are now available to watch online, featuring our Primary Care Clinical Lead, Dr Alison Tavare. COVID-19 and children Recorded on 9 July, this webinar covered identifying and managing non-COVID-related illness, a brief review of the wider impact…

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Preventing surgical site infection across the region

News

Since November 2019 we have been running a collaborative project across the West of England to reduce the incidence of surgical site infection after elective colorectal surgery. Surgical site infection (SSI) refers to wound infections following invasive surgical procedures. SSI is a major healthcare burden accounting for 14.5% of all hospital acquired infections in the…

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Noshin Menzies

Quality Improvement in the age of COVID – launching PERIPrem

Blog article

Noshin Menzies, Senior Project Manager, shares her experiences of launching a Quality Improvement programme during COVID. If you’d told me 4 months ago we would be where we are today with PERIPRem, I’d have wondered what planet you were from. This exciting, ambitious care bundle, the vision of two extraordinary neonatologists, was going to launch…

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"I hope each and every midwife gives themselves time to celebrate with their families and reflect a little on the amazing job they are doing." - Ann Remmers

Midwives rise to the challenge in the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife

Blog article

Ann Remmers, Maternal and Neonatal Clinical Lead for the West of England AHSN, reflects on how brilliantly midwives are adjusting to working in these unprecedented times, and thanks each and every midwife for the amazing job they are doing. No one could ever have predicted what a momentous year the International Year of the Nurse…

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Paramedics arrive at someone's home

Calculating early warning scores before they reach hospital can help the sickest patients

News

Recording National Early Warning Scores (NEWS) when a patient is urgently referred to hospital can improve the process of care for the sickest patients and reduce the time taken to get to hospital, according to a West of England AHSN supported study funded by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) at the University of Bristol…

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For a greener NHS

Net zero carbon: for a greener NHS

News

The climate emergency is a health emergency, and the whole of the NHS is being encouraged to tackle this crisis as part of the ‘For a greener NHS’ campaign.

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heart

Over 3,000 strokes prevented and 800 lives saved through national drive to detect and treat irregular heart rhythm

News

Recently released figures reveal that a programme rolled out by the AHSN Network to reduce strokes related to an irregular heart rhythm helped to prevent 3,165 strokes and 791 lives last year (2018/19). The NHS initiative delivered by all 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) focussed on improving the detection and treatment of atrial fibrillation…

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ReSPECT the process and talk early

Blog article

Tony Goring, Project Manager on the Patient Safety Collaborative at the West of England AHSN reflects on a conversation with student paramedics on the day ReSPECT (Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment) rolls out across parts of the West of England. As ReSPECT (Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment) launched across…

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ReSPECT rolls out across Bristol, Somerset and Gloucestershire

News

Today (Thursday 10 October), patients across the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commisioning Group (BNSSG CCG) and Gloucestershire CCG areas will begin conversations with their clinicians and health care professionals to identify their own care and treatment preferences. It is likely that these discussions and decisions will be recorded using a new purple…

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Evidence-informed update to Emergency Department safety checklist toolkit

News

Evidence from NIHR CLAHRC West’s evaluation of the use of the Emergency Department (ED) Safety Checklist in hospitals in the West of England has been used to update the national toolkit. The toolkit, developed and hosted by the West of England AHSN, supports ED staff who are implementing the Safety Checklist. Hospital trusts have been…

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