Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) win team of the month award

Staff at University Hospitals of North Midlands have been recognised for driving forward cultural change and improvements in their department.

The Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) from Royal Stoke University Hospital has been awarded Team of the Month for their collaborative approach to improving their department.

The team were nominated for implementing Improving Together, a Trust-wide, long term culture transformation journey giving responsibility and decision making back to staff within their own areas.

The improvements have included daily huddles where the team can share problems, ideas, views and celebrate success to benefit patient care. Examples of changes and improvements include the introduction of different coloured mop caps for airway trained staff making handover more efficient for both teams and safer for the patient and installing POD (Patients own drugs) locker on wards. This has meant that patients have safe and timely access to their routine medication, whilst cutting down on medicine waste and rework for doctors and the pharmacy team.

Lorraine Whitehead, UHNM Director of Estates, Facilities and PFI, said: “I am absolutely thrilled to present the Team of the Month award to PACU. The team are such worthy winners of this award due to the positive changes the team have implemented to ensure patient care is the best it can be. A big congratulations to everyone!” 

Claire Brooks, Acting Nurse in PACU, said: “I am very proud of all the work that the improving together team have done so far and we just have to build on what we have already achieved to drive practice forward for the best of our patients.”