Hi!
We are Annette and Julie – we are the nurses that manage the renal outpatient department.
We would just like to let you know about the fantastic changes and improvements we have made recently.
We are all aware that people who visit the department have varying degrees of kidney problems. For the majority of people this will involve attending the renal outpatient department on a regular basis for many years. It is in everyone’s interest to ensure that we make the department as calm and friendly as possible and ensure it runs smoothly. We had become aware that this was an area that we could improve.
To improve patient flow and the patient experience, we tried to identify where the main areas of concern were. It became clear that this was the observation areas and the phlebotomy areas. We adopted quality improvement methodology to ascertain what the problems were. This involved:
- Measuring the time taken from arrival into the department, to observation area, and then to be seen by the clinician.
- Measuring the time taken from seeing the clinician to having bloods obtained.
It was decided that in order to reduce waiting times we would develop both a 3rd observation area and a 3rd phlebotomy area.
By doing this we have reduced the flow time and the length of time the patients need to be in the department. As a bonus, this has enabled us to provide an allocation of a named support staff member to each consultant (and their clinic). This ensures that delays are quickly identified and makes the flow more streamlined.
Some of the team in renal outpatients at Salford Royal hospital
We have a fabulous team of eight support workers and a senior staff nurse who are all happy to support everyone throughout their journey in our department.
We are constantly looking at ways to improve all aspects of outpatient care, please do not hesitate to speak to us if you feel you can offer suggestions.
The team is:
Sr Annette Knaggs
Sr Julie Jackson
Sn Jane Ascott (Sn Maria Velasquez – Mondays)
Sw Linda Gibson
Sw Diane Walsh
Sw Christine ball
Sw Gemma Gabrielides
Sw Suzanne McDowall
Sw Adela Reynolds
Sw Enitan Talabi
Thank you!