Trust gets hip to benefit of patient nutrition
The trust has teamed up with five of its NHS counterparts to promote the importance of nutrition in elderly patients recovering from hip fractures.
Hip fracture is the most common serious injury among older people costing the NHS more £1 billion a year with more than a third of those affected dying within a year.
The initiative is supported by the Health Foundation and aims to save lives, reduce the amount of time spent in hospital and promote independence.
Hip QIP 2: Scaling up Nutritional Support after Hip Fracture is built around the placement of dedicated nutritional assistants on acute trauma wards.
It follows the success of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust whose use of assistants led to a decrease in 30-day mortality among patients from 10.3% to 5.7% saving 119 lives.
The five-strong team oversaw the provision of an additional 29,000 patient meals and the early return of 200 patients to their homes.
Mr Nicholas Ferran, Consultant Surgeon and Clinical lead for trauma at LNWH sand Claudette Christie, Fracture Co-ordination Nurse said: “We are delighted to be part of this safety programme which will improve care for our patients and support further adoption across the NHS.
“By joining forces and working together, we are confident we will be able to benefit many more patients and families beyond our local area.”
The initiative’s long-term goal is to long-term is to see nutritional assistants embedded in multi-disciplinary teams across the NHS.