Improvements in the rate of elective surgery at Stepping Hill Hospital have been recognised by the winning of a major national patient safety award.

The Stockport NHS Foundation Trust team which organises elective (or ‘non- emergency’) surgery received the ‘Patient Safety in Elective Recovery’ award at the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Awards, which recognise projects to improve and improve patient safety across the country.

The award was presented at an evening ceremony run by the HSJ in Manchester. The trust was also shortlisted in four other categories at the awards, demonstrating its commitment to patient safety across its services. 

The elective surgery team for their project to tackle the large backlog of surgery which had developed during and since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic had a huge impact in increasing waiting lists for elective surgery, and these effects are still being seen years after the end of lockdown. Many thousands were waiting longer, and there was a major backlog in trusts across the country.

The surgical theatres team took a rigorous and constructive approach, looking at the  causes of delays and inefficiencies, in order to reduce this backlog while still ensuring rigorous safety standards were in place. 

Elective operations were increased from around 740 per month to nearer 1090 a month, allowing patients to get the procedures they need sooner, which is better for their health outcomes.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust also had four other teams shortlisted: ‘Patient Safety Education and Training’ (the paediatrics team), ‘Patient Safety in Elective Recovery Patient Safety in Elective Recovery Award’ (the urology team), ‘Quality Improvement Initiative of the Year’ (the endoscopy team), and ‘Staff Health and Wellbeing Initiative of the Year’ (people’s directorate and gynaecology services.)

Karen James OBE, Chief Executive for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “I am so pleased to see that our surgical team have won their category at the HSJ Patient Safety Awards. This is very well deserved for a project which showed real innovation in ensuring the best possible safety standards for our surgical patients recovering from surgery. It was great to see our other three teams being recognised at these awards too, showing the many different ways in which we put patient safety at the heart of what we do.”