North Wales health board team wins Quality Improvement Award for Thrombosis Prevention

A team from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) have been awarded the prestigious ‘Quality Improvement Programme Advancing Practice in Thrombosis’ award at the recent Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Awards in Parliament.

The awards celebrate outstanding practice in the management, education, and provision of VTE services across the UK.

VTE also known as ‘thrombosis’ or ‘blood clots’ which include ‘deep vein thrombosis’ and ‘pulmonary embolism’, is a leading cause of hospital deaths and disability.

Around 50 per cent of all blood clots are associated with being admitted to hospital for illness or surgery.

The team from Betsi Cadwaladr Hospital University Health Board introduced the ‘APPLE’ approach to reduce preventable hospital acquired thrombosis.

‘APPLE’ focused on:

• Assessment (of VTE risk)
• Peer review (consultants reviewed appropriate action to reduce a person’s risk of a blood clot)
• Pharmacy check (that prescribed medicines were being taken correctly)
• Leaflet (nurses talked to and provided patients with information about blood clots)
• Education (all staff underwent training)

Since the introduction of the APPLE approach, they have seen a significant improvement in the reduction of blood clots occurring as a result of being admitted into hospital.

The project is now being rolled out across North Wales and the team has saved BCUHB approximately £500,000.

During the awards, Wrexham’s MP, Sarah Atherton MP met the team (including a pharmacist, physiotherapist, advanced nurses, and anaesthetist) to congratulate them and learn more about their work.

Following the awards, Ms Atherton wrote to the Chief Executive of BCUHB, Carol Shillabeer to share the team’s life-changing work, in addition to their core clinical duties.

Commenting on the news, Sarah Atherton MP said: “It was a pleasure to meet the outstanding team from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), whose outstanding efforts earned them well-deserved recognition at the Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Awards for their highly successful thrombosis improvement plan.

“This small, dedicated team undertook the sizeable task of mitigating preventable Hospital Acquired Thrombosis (HAT) while simultaneously enhancing education and awareness regarding VTE prevention.

“As a former nurse who trained at the Maelor, I take every opportunity to praise and support the great work that clinicians have taken up in difficult circumstances.

“It was impressive to learn that to date, there have been no preventable thrombosis’ identified, they have improved patient safety, and this has saved BCUHB approximately £500,000.

“I have written to the Chief Executive of BCUHB, Carol Shillabeer to highlight their life-changing work which helps so many not only at the Maelor, but across North Wales.”