UHBW recognised for digital excellence at the HSJ Digital Awards 2023

University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) won two national awards at the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Digital Awards 2023.

The Trust was awarded ‘Digital Team of the Year’ and Dr. Mark Lyttle ‘Digital Leader of the Year’ for the digitising of the Bristol Royal Hospital (BRHC) for Children’s Emergency Department and interfacing partner services.

The project has led to the digital transformation of the department, from a traditional paper-based system to one which is not only paperless but embraces numerous digital strategies, processes, and systems.

The electronic clinical systems provide prompts to clinical staff throughout the patient journey, including from observations, clinical noting, task management, and other integrated platforms, ensuring that those who need urgent treatment can be prioritised.

The successful rollout has reduced pressure on NHS teams and helped further improve patient safety, more than halving triage times - saving over 10 minutes per patient - with further improvements since the launch now bringing triage to less than four minutes per patient.

This was vital during winter 2022, when the Emergency Department (ED) at BRHC saw average numbers of patients in the waiting room rise, and at points surge by up to 300%.

Maxwell Ward, Head of Clinical Systems at UHBW said:

“It’s an honour to have won the ‘HSJ Digital Team of the Year’ award, in a category with so many worthy finalists.

“This award recognises the passion, commitment, drive and impact that each of our team members embody. I couldn’t be prouder of how the team works together, resulting in a potent mixture of clinical and digital expertise. The success of the team is in no small part due to our shared vision to improve the safety, quality and efficiency of the care delivered in the Children’s ED and beyond.

“Many members of the team are truly unsung heroes and deserving winners, it’s fantastic that they have been recognised at a national level for their outstanding dedication to patient care.”

On being announced, the HSJ judges said:

“We felt that this team evidenced what this category is all about. A sincere and determined effort to support patients and enable their team to improve safety, quality, and care across the board. This is an outstanding entry that demonstrates the teamwork and dedication needed for successful implementation of digital services.”

Dr. Mark Lyttle, Children’s Emergency Care Consultant (CED) and Senior Research Fellow at UHBW said:

“It has been a real privilege to have had the opportunity to lead the Digital CED programme, which is already enabling continuous improvements in the care we provide to our patients. Winning the HSJ Digital Team of the Year award is fantastic recognition of all the hard work, commitment, and enthusiasm of several teams and individuals across UHBW and the wider healthcare system.

“The success of this programme has only been possible through the collaboration, engagement, and passion of those in the clinical and digital environments in UHBW, and partner organisations. It has been truly humbling and inspirational to work with this exceptional group of people, who demonstrate all that is best in UHBW and the NHS.

“Each and every member of the team has consistently gone above and beyond, often giving their own time, to exceed our aspirations in demonstrating the art of the possible. It has been genuinely uplifting to witness first-hand across the team that this has been driven by the desire to improve patient care and facilitate our clinical teams to achieve this goal.”

On presenting the Digital Leader Award, judges said:

“This is an example of an inspirational and passionate leader who has continuously made improvements to grow a special culture and firm belief structure for others to follow. A leader who listens to those who he can learn from, who has an infectious warmth and goes above and beyond to strive for digital revolution. The judges were impressed by how effectively this entrant has been able to share his vision.”

The success of the programme was only made possible through the collaboration, engagement and assistance of staff across several other UHBW teams including the CED (including Reception, Nursing, Emergency Nurse Practitioners, Medical, Allied Health Professionals, and Non-clinical support), clinical teams across the BRHC, the Business Analysis team, Business Intelligence team, Clinical Systems Specialist Team (Careflow Connect & Workspace, Careflow Clinical noting, Careflow Vitals, Careflow EPR, Evolve, and ICE), Desktop Support team, and the Digital Transformation team.

Delivering the digital revolution in the CED has required significant the contribution of a number of individuals and teams in developing, implementing, and realising the benefits of digital clinical systems.

Those individuals who comprised the core Digital CED Programme team included: Laura Duthie, Tidus Ford, Paul Griffiths, Lucy Grinnell, Katherine Hance, Elaine Hayward, Jenni Leewarden, Zara McCambridge, Joe McDonagh, Lucinda Morse, Mark Newland, Sarah Plaxton, Paul Upward, and Jane Watkins.