Liver team becomes first centre in the East Midlands to gain prestigious accreditation
The Liver team at Royal Derby Hospital has been recognised nationally for providing exceptional care for patients with liver disease - becoming the first centre in the East Midlands and the eleventh centre in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to do so.
The team demonstrated to Improving Quality in Liver Services (IQILS) assessors that they are providing safe care, improving services to those diagnosed with liver problems and developing plans to continue to evolve the service.
The IQILS accreditation programme, which is run by the Royal College of Physicians, launched in 2017 with the aim of improving the quality of liver services across the UK. Dr Adam Lawson, Consultant Hepatologist and Gastroenterologist, and his team first registered back in November 2018, and he said the team worked incredibly hard to achieve the accreditation:
"There are lots of different components to the accreditation scheme but essentially it comes down to ensuring patients are involved in the service and in decisions about their care, monitoring performance and developing and supporting staff to deliver a good liver service.
"It has been a long road to get here but nothing worth having comes easy and to know that we are only the eleventh centre in the country to have achieved this is a huge boost and there's a real sense of pride among in the team in having our hard work recognised."
The team set up monthly meetings attended by liver consultants, specialist nurses, specialist dietitians and members of the alcohol care team in a bid to create a forum and consider how the service could be developed. Annual meetings were also set up in response to patient feedback, which allowed the team to engage with patients and create an annual plan which outlines what they want to achieve to further improve the service.
The team has also worked on improving the patient information and how patients can access it, as well as developing a liver menu for patients on our wards, which is specifically designed to meet the needs of patients with liver disease.
This was showcased when the IQILS team visited Royal Derby Hospital to assess the service, speak to staff and interview patients under the team's care about their experience.
Dr Lawson explained: "Patient feedback has played a massive part in how we have made these improvements so to know they appreciate the work we have put in is really special. When they spoke with the IQILS assessors, patients expressed their trust in their team and gratitude for the guidance and support they receive."
The IQILS structure helped to focus everyone's attention on delivering improvement to patient care and now the team will continue to explore how it can keep building on the success of the accreditation.
Dr Lawson continued: "We know that the prognosis for patients with advanced liver disease is worse than for many cancers, yet the same level of support is not available. The development of advanced care planning for this group of patients, a project led by Dr Claire Grant in collaboration with the Palliative Care team, was highlighted by IQILS assessors as an excellent example of patient centred care.
"We're continuing to work on improving services and delivering the improvements we've already made and we will be assessed again in five years to make sure that we are maintaining the standards set."
Dr Sreeman Andole, Interim Executive Medical Director, said the accreditation is a testament to the commitment of the team to improve services and the experience of our patients.
He said: "This is a wonderful achievement for colleagues who have continuously strived to deliver the best care for their patients and their families. The IQILS programme is recognised nationally and is a benchmark for all liver units so to be one of only 11 centres across the UK to have been awarded the accreditation is credit to our fantastic colleagues and their dedication to the communities we serve. On behalf of everyone at UHDB, I can say we are very proud."