Manchester Academic Critical Care Research team win two prestigious national awards!

THE Manchester Academic Critical Care (MACC) research group based within the DIIRM at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) have won two national awards in October 2020, recognising their outstanding dedication to ‘Improving Tracheostomy Care’ for patients across Greater Manchester and beyond.

The team won the Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine category at The BMJ Awards 2020, and the Improvement Project Award at the Intensive Care Society Awards.

The team work across Wythenshawe Hospital, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH) and Manchester Royal Infirmary, all part of MFT, in the community, and also support training and care in non-tertiary centres across the UK.

Until recently, there was no universal package of guidance for staff to treat patients requiring a tracheostomy. Over the last six years, clinicians at MFT have worked on a number of research and improvement programs to improve patient safety, patient experience and collaborative care, sharing their learning with hospitals across the UK.

Tracheostomies are small tubes inserted into the neck acting as artificial airways, with around 20,000 new tracheostomies inserted annually in the UK. The needs of a tracheostomy patient are often complex and are dependent on competent, knowledgeable care to keep them safe.

Historically tracheostomies were performed by surgeons and mostly managed on surgical wards. Currently around 70% of tracheostomies are carried out by anaesthetists on intensive care units, creating a new group of complex patients recovering from critical illnesses.

Brendan McGrath, Consultant Anaesthetist at MFT, Honorary Senior Lecturer DIIRM and the NHS England National Clinical Advisor for Tracheostomy, and the team have led on local and national studies identifying recurrent problems with tracheostomy care.

In 2014, the team at MFT initiated a pilot study in four NHS Trusts in Greater Manchester. The improvement project that won the awards was rolled out to 20 diverse UK hospitals following the pilot. The comprehensive improvement programme included standardising care and providing training for more than 4,000 members of staff, embedding innovative practices that transformed care.

Dr Brendan McGrath, Consultant Anaesthetist at MFT said: “We are proud to be leading the way in tracheostomy care and improving the quality of care for our patients and sharing our learning with hospitals across the UK. Patients and their families have been at the heart of our programme of improvement and they have been involved in all aspects.

“We are delighted to win these prestigious awards and it is a mark of real achievement for the team involved. We are so proud of the work we do, and the improved care and patient experience that we are able to provide for our patients. The importance of the work was recognised by the safety elements of the program being rapidly rolled out as part of NHS England’s COVID-19 response.”

The three-year improvement programme has reduced the harm from incidents by 55% and has resulted in higher quality care, with a 47% reduction in patient reported anxiety and depression and significantly earlier time to talking, eating and drinking.

More efficient care led to significant cost savings, estimated to save the NHS £275 million. This prompted the national roll out of this program as part of the NHS England National Patient Safety Improvement Programme from 2020.

Dr McGrath has also established the UK National Tracheostomy Safety Project with MFT and UoM colleagues, designing educational resources and multidisciplinary quality improvement programmes.

He continued: “Patients told us that their main worries were around eating, drinking and talking, which is one of the reasons behind the creation of more than 50 short educational videos for patients, families and healthcare staff.”

Following the successful implementation of films made with adult tracheostomy patients, viewed by more than one million people worldwide, the team developed and filmed a set of 25 educational videos for paediatric tracheostomy patients at RMCH, with a red-carpet premiere for the patients and staff involved.

Brendan and his team have also led on setting up the Global Tracheostomy Collaborative which shares good practice from exemplar hospitals around the world and evaluates the impact of improvements. MFT was the first Trust in Europe to join the initiative and the team’s work in Manchester remains pivotal in improving the quality and safety of care for patients.

This year, the BMJ Awards took place virtually on Wednesday 7th October with the winners announced online. Now in their 12th year, the awards recognise the professionalism, commitment, creativity, and hard work of healthcare teams across the UK. The inaugural Intensive Care Society Awards were held on Tuesday 20^th October and recognise excellence in UK Intensive Care practice and research. Both events were delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic.

You can learn more about the team’s work at www.tracheostomy.org.uk.