A surgical team at our Trust has been shortlisted in the HSJ Patient Safety Awards which recognises safety, culture and positive experience in patient care.

Our team who run a radiofrequency ablation clinic for the treatment of varicose veins is in the running to win the Patient Safety in Elective Recovery Award at this year’s awards.

The ambulatory clinic has been running in West Out-patients since October 2022 and uses radiofrequency energy to heat the wall of the vein so that it collapses and reduces the pain and swelling associated with varicose veins.

Mr Philip Bennett, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, said varicose veins were previously treated in an operating theatre at NNUH, but moving to an out-patient setting had increased efficiency and patient satisfaction scores. He said: “By taking treatment into an out-patient clinic, we can treat 11 patients a day compared to eight when we were in theatres. This service is currently only for patients who are ambulatory who can ‘walk in and walk out’ for treatment. Patients have reported high satisfaction as they can choose a date and 45-minute time slot to have their treatment and don’t have to wait around as they would being treated in theatre.

“This clinic would not have been possible without the support of the multi-disciplinary team. It is very rewarding to get thank you cards and letters from patients hearing how this treatment improves their quality of life.”

The HSJ Patient Safety Awards acknowledges the hard-working teams and individuals across the UK who are continually striving to deliver improved patient care.

Holly Bray, Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist, pictured right, has also been shortlisted in the HSJ’s Patient Safety Awards. Holly has made the shortlist for her role in creating provision of OT in Critical Care, in the “Harnessing a Human Factors Approach to Improve Patient Safety” category.

When visiting a patient in Critical Care, Holly could see there was a missed opportunity to maintain patients’ functional independence and the benefits that OT input could bring to this patient group. Holly helped to develop a business case and, as a result, a new core OT role was created for the unit.

She has created a “Focus on Function” initiative where she is working to support a culture change, educate staff and help fight deconditioning right from the start of a patient’s journey.

We welcomed David Whiteley from ITV Anglia into the Norwich Hand Unit to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS in July.

David wanted to film in the unit after severing a tendon in his thumb while using a Stanley knife at home and received care at the hospital.

Surgeons repaired his thumb and he has been conscientious in performing his exercises to regain as much movement as possible, under the care of our specialist hand rehabilitation team.

The service evolved during the pandemic as the team adapted to the restrictions on aerosol generating procedures.

“People were at home doing DIY and the number of injuries was escalating and we couldn’t help them under general anaesthetic,” said Consultant Anaesthetist Morne Wolmarans.

“We developed a service whereby we could treat them with a nerve blocker so they would feel no pain while we repaired their injury.”

The team has now carried out 4,000 procedures within its outpatient service which operates five days a week and treats elective cases as well as on the day walk-ins and emergencies.

Consultant Plastic Surgeon Sam Norton added: “This is a ground-breaking unit and shows how the NHS is always evolving, always looking to improve the care we give to our patients.”