NHS Lothian welcomed Angela Constance, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care, to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on Thursday 21 May to meet staff and see how teams are working to improve the flow of patients through the hospital.
During her first engagement since being appointed the day before, the Health Secretary met staff working in the hospital’s Command Centre, the elective orthopaedics ward and the Emergency Department (A&E).
The Command Centre brings together teams who use dashboards of data, displayed on large screens, to identify areas of high pressure across the hospital and support timely intervention. The Health Secretary was shown the latest data capture methods and how the Command Centre is key to capacity planning and flow – keeping patients moving as smoothly as possible through hospital care.
On the ward, the Health Secretary spoke with Steven, a patient who had had a partial knee replacement the previous day. Surgical staff explained how they had performed the procedure using robotic-arm technology which allows millimetre accuracy.
Steven, who was soon to be discharged, said: “Because this whole procedure for me has just been so well-planned, once you’re actually in that system and going through this procedure, it works very well and it’s seamless and, as I say, positive” – and added that he was looking forward to getting back on the golf course in a few weeks’ time.
The Health Secretary learned about the various ways in which patients arrive at the Emergency Department and the factors which can increase demand for emergency care.
The tour was led by NHS Lothian Chairman Professor John Connaghan CBE and Deputy Chief Executive Jim Crombie.
Speaking at the end of the tour, the Health Secretary set out her priorities. “Within the first 100 days I will be publishing a very clear plan about how to improve A&E performance,” she said. “As a government we are committed to that, and we know that a patient’s experience doesn’t just start at the front door of the hospital.
“The absolute priorities are better, faster care, for patients to get care closer to home – and when they do need to come to hospital, that they spend as little time in hospital as possible.”
