Plymouth Hospitals retains its VTE exemplar status

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust has retained its exemplar status as one of only 20 venous thromboembolism (VTE) sites in the country, following a process of revalidation by NHS England.

Plymouth Hospitals was awarded exemplar status in 2008 and was the thirteenth site in the country to achieve this.

Tim Nokes, Consultant Haematologist and Service Line Director for Haematology & Immunology, said: “I am very proud of the fact that the Trust has retained its status as a VTE Exemplar Centre. This rewards the hard work of many staff within the Trust for their efforts in preventing harm from VTE, in significantly reducing thrombosis rates.

“In particular I would like to mention the unstinting work of Huw Rowswell, Trust VTE Clinical Nurse Specialist, in raising awareness of this important patient safety initiative”.

Dr Phil Hughes, Medical Director for Plymouth Hospitals, added: “This is such a great achievement and I would personally like to thank Dr Tim Nokes and Huw Rowswell for the commitment they continue to show to our patients as VTE leads.”

The Trust has been leading the way in the tackling of deadly blood clots with the introduction of the VTE Implementation Working Group in 2006. Subsequent work by the multi-professional Thrombosis Committee, and many other staff from around the Trust, has meant a significant drop in the number of hospital acquired thrombosis (HAT) over a three year period, due to effective use of thrombosis prophylaxis in hospital inpatients and some in the community as well.

The Trust produces real-time outcome data for those patients developing HATs, raising awareness amongst hospital staff, so that they can learn from circumstances around these events.