8 March 2019
Healthcare professionals have spent the week looking at plans for Shropshire’s two acute hospitals to ensure the proposed layouts will allow them to deliver the best possible patient care following reconfiguration.
Some of the team involved in the week-long 3P event
A team of over 50 clinicians, patient representatives and other healthcare professionals have been delving into the proposed NHS Future Fit plans to scrutinise the future designs of the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH).
All suggested revisions are being made by experts in their field and will now be submitted to architects with a view of maximising clinical spaces, while getting an even better understanding of the exact workforce skills required to deliver the best, kindest and most dignified care possible.
The week-long event has been held in partnership with the Virginia Mason Institute, based in Seattle, USA, and is called a 3P event. 3P is a methodology looking at Production, Preparation and Process and has been successfully used by ‘America’s Hospital of the Decade’ when developing new hospitals.
Mr Tony Fox, Vascular Surgeon at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs RSH and PRH, as well as the Medical Advisor to the Trust’s Transforming Care team, who are leading the 3P event, said: “We had patient representatives with us throughout the week, which was really important as it allowed us to test ideas with the people who will be using our services. They kept us on track throughout the week and made sure we always put the patient first.
“We have incredibly talented people in every area of our hospitals, and some of the ideas they have come up will make a real difference to the way we deliver care in the future.
“It is simple things like asking surgeons to make sure our operating theatres are in the most appropriate place and asking our Emergency Consultants for their opinions on how to deliver the most patient-centric emergency department. This feedback will allow the architects to go back to their drawing board and tweak their designs to best suit the needs of everyone using our services.
“We were also able to tap into the knowledge of our ‘behind the scenes’ teams as without their input we wouldn’t know what IT infrastructure needs to go where or how many delivery lorries arrive at our hospitals every day. It has been a huge team effort and one everyone involved should feel very proud about.”
Simon Wright, Chief Executive at SaTH, said: “This is the third time I have been involved in an event of this type and I am incredibly impressed with everything I have seen and heard. The maturity of people’s thinking and their ability to come up with out-of-the-box ideas is fantastic.
“Everyone is so passionate about having the chance to transform our hospitals to make them the best they can be. We have one common goal – to deliver the safest and kindest care to the people of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales – and having seen, heard and felt the energy from our people I am more confident than ever about achieving our vision.
“Those involved in the 3P will be reporting back to the rest of our workforce today (Friday 8 March). This is just the first of many events like this; we want to get as many people as possible involved in the transformation of our hospitals.”