(December 10th 2018) Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) has published its 2017 Quality Report. The report highlights some of the key services, initiatives and achievements which staff in the Hospital have undertaken in 2017 under the three pillars of Quality, Safety and Risk Management (QSRM).
Delivering quality, safety and driving quality improvements is the responsibility of all staff. TUH also has a separate QSRM Directorate, which is specifically devoted to these areas. This is supported by the QSRM Executive and the QSRM Board Committees as well as a range of relevant policies and procedures to drive a consistently high standard of care. Importantly, all of this is underpinned by a supportive, open and learning culture.
As in previous years, in 2017 we trained staff from various disciplines on our bespoke Quality Improvement Methodology to enable them to successfully introduce improvements in their departments and specialities. The training programme itself delivered 20 high profile quality improvement projects, some of which are highlighted as part of this report. Each of these projects will help us deliver better care for our patients.
TUH has a comprehensive programme of departmental and Hospital wide clinical audits where clinical care issues are assessed internally to measure performance against a well-recognised standard. Improvements are identified and subsequently introduced to deliver an even better quality of care. In 2017, the Hospital-directed clinical audits focused on appropriate use of bed rails, oxygen prescribing, clinical handover, management of patients with Carbapenem Producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), the sepsis six pathway, use of our drug Kardex and documentation of acute surgical and medical admissions.
Ongoing regulation is a key part of Quality Assurance. In 2017 the Hospital welcomed a visit from the Health Information and Quality Authority, which inspected the Hospital’s compliance with the national standards for medication management. The review concluded that good governance arrangements were in place as well as good evidence of innovation, continuous learning and quality improvement, particularly for our adult service.
Receiving and responding to patient feedback has become a key part of the Hospital’s Quality Improvement Programme. In 2017 bespoke, volunteer-led surveys on Radiology and Hand Hygiene were completed. These surveys were combined with the first postal National Patient Experience Survey for in-patients which found that 83% of our patients said they had a ‘very good’ or ‘good’ experience in TUH.
Commenting on the publication of the report, Mairéad Shields, Chair of the Quality Safety & Risk Management Board Committee, said: “Our hospital faces many challenges currently. Bed capacity is a major challenge as by 2041 the projected population growth of those over 75 years is forecast to increase by a staggering 322% in our catchment area. These challenges require significant resources as well as a coordinated response by our policy makers, political leaders and health professionals as to how we can meaningfully respond in addressing these issues over the coming years. We have €80 million approved of a €130m plan to develop the Hospital, that’s two-thirds of our plan achieved. The Hospital Board and the Executive Management Team would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank all the hard work of staff in the Quality, Safety and Risk Management Directorate as well as acknowledging and thanking each and every staff member in TUH, in both clinical and non-clinical areas, who go that extra mile each day to ensure the highest possible standard of care is provided to our patients. Our staff are our greatest assets. They are the ambassadors who truly represent our ethos of ‘people caring for people’.”
A full copy of the report can be read here.
About Tallaght University Hospital
Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) is one of Ireland’s largest acute teaching hospitals, providing child-health, adult, mental health and age-related healthcare on one site. The Hospital has 495 adult beds and 67 paediatric bed. With over 3,000 people on staff it is a provider of local, regional and national specialities. It is also a national urology centre, the second largest provider of dialysis services in the country and a regional orthopaedic trauma centre.
TUH is one of the two main teaching hospitals of Trinity College Dublin - specialising in the training and professional development of staff in areas such as nursing, health and social care professionals, emergency medicine and surgery, amongst many others. Tallaght University Hospital is uniquely part of both the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group and Child Health Ireland? which serves a population of over 1.2 million across seven counties.
A new satellite centre is to be built at TUH as part of the National Children’s Hospital project and as a key element of an integrated clinical network for paediatric services nationally. The Hospital’s Emergency Departments catered for 50,286 Adult Attendance and 32,886 Paediatric Attendance in 2017. A further 291,483 patients were treated through the Hospital’s Adult and Paediatric outpatient clinics in 2017. The Hospital’s operations are supported by 200 general practitioners in surrounding communities.
