Success for Hull and East Yorks hip programme

The trust has made a number of changes to there are such as using special mattresses as soon as they suspect a potential hip fracture; prioritising them for X-rays; and ensuring patients and family meet with a trauma co-ordinator.

This has reduced the length of stay – down from 18 days in October to just over 14 in January – but the trust has also seen a 20 per cent drop in mortality among these patients, and reductions in pressure ulcers and slips, trips and falls.

The changes to how patients were treated were led by a multi-disciplinary ‘pioneer team’ which looked at ways of speeding up diagnosis, treatment and recovery. They were part of a trust-wide initiative to encourage staff to find innovative solutions to problems and improve patient care.