Productive Wards roll-out impresses UK nursing chiefs

Media Release

Date: October 30, 2012

Productive Wards roll-out impresses UK nursing chiefs

Visiting British nursing chiefs are impressed with the roll-out of their hospital productivity programme at the Waikato District Health Board.

Productive Wards’ Releasing Time To Care frees up nurses to spend more time with their patients and has been adopted by Waikato DHB since 2009.

Two leading nursing administrators from the British National Health Service – which developed and owns the Productive Wards programme – toured Waikato Hospital on Friday and were impressed with the progress here.

Jenny Leggott, director of nursing and midwifery Nottingham City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre, which covers two sites and 1800 beds, and Kerry Bloodworth, assistant director of nursing and midwifery at Nottingham, implemented Productive Wards there in 2007 and were the NHS’s hospital pilot.

Jenny was impressed with the “enthusiastic” work by Waikato DHB staff.

“I think there has been some fantastic work done here. The staff are enthusiastic and innovative, and we’ve seen some exceptional things done by some extraordinary nurses.

“And they are well supported by the executive. The organisation should be rightly proud of them.”
Also on the visiting team were Sapere Research Group consultants David Moore and Gary Blick, contracted to the Health Quality Safety Commission and ministry to review the programme which is operating in 13 of the 20 New Zealand DHBs.

Productive Ward project managers Vin Kaur and Jenni Macfarlane took the group on a tour of some of the wards to show “Releasing Time To Care” in action and introduced them to key staff members who have supported it.

The programme focuses on improving ward processes and environments to help nurses and therapists spend more time on patient care which in turn improves safety and efficiency on the ward.

Director of nursing and midwifery, Sue Hayward, says it delivers ward-based care that is as efficient and effective as possible by empowering staff to be more in control of their working environment.

“The programme empowers nurses on wards to look at how processes such as drug rounds, ward rounds and discharge work, can be streamlined, allowing nurses to spend more time on direct patient care,’’ Sue says.

“It’s about looking to improve the processes of those activities, to make them less time-intensive, so more time can be spent on patient care.”

www.waikatodhb.health.nz/productivewards

ENDS

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