The North-West Leicestershire planned care & treatment team won the Excellence in Quality Improvement at last week's Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust's (LPT) annual Celebrating Excellence Awards.

The team identified that by operating a duty system for outpatient clinics, they would be able to respond better and more efficiently to patients.

This ensured that risks are reduced and their outcomes improve.

Medics have also reported an improvement in their daily work as a result of this new system.

The evening - hosted by BBC Radio Leicester's Breakfast Show presenter, Ady Dayman - saw awards presented to staff and teams for their extraordinary contribution to providing high quality care and wellbeing for all, after being nominated by the public, patients, service-users, carers, and colleagues.

The North West Leicestershire Team's story began in May 2021, when a duty trial was conducted at Coalville's Hawthorn Centre, in Broom Leys Road, with the support of Consultants and Team Leads to reduce the workload of consultants.

The duty system gave outpatients the opportunity to contact the nursing team – which meant that patients would receive a better and timelier response, and one that would improve their outcomes. 

The process was regularly reviewed and other medics also contributed to the duty system.

They worked with the Quality Improvement team and staff collected data, before and during the trail.

All staff were included and listened to as part of the evaluation.

The trial saw to the number of patients requiring referral reduced by 54 per cent, improving the overall workload of nursing staff.

Medics reported a significant improvement in their daily work and there was wider effect upon other services as well.