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Best for hip fracture care
The National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) has rated West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) as the top hospital in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for meeting best practice criteria for patients treated for a hip fracture.
Hip fractures are cracks or breaks in the top of the thigh bone (femur) close to the hip joint. They're usually caused by a fall or an injury to the side of the hip, and are one of the most common serious injuries for older people.
A progressive integrated staff team, including doctors, specialist nurses, trauma practitioners, and orthopaedic, elderly medicine, and rehabilitation teams, ensure the patient is identified as soon as they attend the emergency department.
This multidisciplinary team works together to identify immediate care needs and ongoing rehabilitation needs of each patient, ensuring they receive the best standard of care as soon as possible.
WSFT achieved 94.3% against the best practice criteria* in 2017, against an average** of 57.1%. Records show that:
- 94.5% of patients had surgery on the day of, or the day after, admission (top score against an average 69.5%)
- 100% of patients received a mental test score on admission (average 94.7%)
- 99.7% of patients received a perioperative medical assessment (average 88.6%)
- 99.5% of patients received a physiotherapy assessment by the day after surgery (average 94.2%)
- In December 2017, despite the Trust caring for the highest number of patients since the database began in April 2011, staff kept patients’ overall average length of stay at the lowest it has been since the database began at 16.1 days.
Dr Mohanraj Suresh, lead geriatrician at WSFT, said: “Our elderly patients are sometimes very frail when they come to us, so rapid decisions about care and action are paramount to help them to regain mobility and a good quality of independent life. Providing holistic and continuous medical care for hip fracture patients has significantly improved mortality, length of stay and patient experiences.”
Mr Andrew Dunn, orthopaedic consultant at WSFT, said: “Patient care is our priority and it is our organised multidisciplinary team approach that enables us to deliver such an effective hip fracture service to our patients.
“In Suffolk we have an ageing population, with currently one in five residents aged over 65. We see a lot of older patients with hip fractures and using the criteria set by the National Hip Fracture Database as a way to measure our effectiveness ensures we continuously aim to improve our patients’ outcomes.”
Dr Nick Jenkins, medical director at WSFT, said: “I am incredibly proud of our team for working at such a high standard to deliver safe, quality care for patients who come to us with hip fractures. After the Trust received an outstanding rating from the CQC recently, it is good to see another example of the outstanding care our clinicians are providing to our community. ”
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