10 June 2022
Congratulations
to our 2022 Best Practice Award winners. We spoke to the rheumatology team at
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who are pioneering a referral
pathway for patients with suspected giant cell arteritis.
The rheumatology team wanted to improve the referral pathway for patients with suspected giant cell arteritis, a condition that needs treating promptly as it can lead to blindness or stroke.
Dr Sarah Mackie, consultant rheumatologist, said: 鈥淲e wanted to be able to assess patients quickly, give a prompt diagnosis and get them the right treatment.鈥�
The project aimed to decrease waiting times, reduce over-diagnosis, optimise treatment and make the best use of hospital resources. The team worked together to design a new way of working, listening to ideas from everyone involved in the pathway including administrative staff, the whole MDT and patients.
鈥淔rom a sonographer鈥檚 point of view, being involved in discussions from the start means we鈥檝e been able to influence the decisions,鈥� said Kate Smith, research sonographer at Chapel Allerton Hospital Biomedical Research Centre. 鈥淐o-designing the pathway means it works for everyone.鈥�
To improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis, the team introduced several changes including:
- streamlining how GPs and A&E can refer a patient to specialists
- introducing temporal artery ultrasound, a quicker, cost-effective and non-invasive way to diagnose the condition
- reviewing patients鈥� cases in a diagnostic meeting with clinicians, sonographers and histopathologists to reach joint decisions on diagnosis and treatment.
As a result of the changes, the time from referral to a definitive decision on long-term treatment has declined from an average of 28 days to 7 days.
Looking back on the 2022 winners, Sarah Campbell, our new Chief Executive said 鈥淭he success of this ambitious project is testament to the effective application of quality improvement fundamentals: engagement and involvement of patients, professionals, and staff, and routinely using data for improvement. Improving referral, diagnosis, and treatment has reduced the risk of serious harm for patients.鈥�
The Best Practice Award judges felt this project was a great example of identifying a challenge and drawing on the expertise of both patients and medical professionals to drive improvements. Awards judge, Ali Rivett, said: 鈥淭he new pathway has improved the service against a wide and impressive range of metrics, including the speed at which patients are seen.鈥�
The team are thrilled with the award, and it鈥檚 had many positive impacts. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been able to share our experience at BSR鈥檚 annual conference to help others,鈥� explained Kate Smith. 鈥淭he win has also helped raise awareness of the condition and opened up conversations with other specialties and wider networks who are keen to understand more about what we鈥檝e done.鈥�
The team is now developing the pathway further using the data they collected during the project. 鈥淲e鈥檙e improving the pathway all the time, like making the referral paperwork easier for people to fill in,鈥� said Dr Mackie. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a continuous improvement mindset, so it鈥檚 about small steps to develop it every year.鈥�
Congratulations to the Leeds team. You can find out more about their winning project and .
The 2024 Best Practice Awards will be open for applications
from 1 - 29 September. These prestigious awards showcase innovation and
celebrate the outstanding efforts and achievements of rheumatology services
across the UK.
Find out more about the awards.