Consultant-led ward rounds benefit patients at hospitals in Morecambe Bay

Keogh ward rounds were first introduced at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) in January 2017 followed by Furness General Hospital (FGH) in April 2017.

They have since been improving care at the Trust by standardising patient reviews and building a strong communication channel for patients and clinicians. The ward rounds also help to improve patient flow through the hospital as patients receive the right care at the right time from the right clinician.

Deepak Herlekar, Clinical Lead of Trauma and Orthopaedics at UHMBT, led on the introduction of Keogh Ward Rounds in the hospitals Orthopaedic Units and is already seeing their benefits.

He said: “I decided to introduce Keogh Ward Rounds in the RLI and FGH Orthopaedic units as a way of implementing more regular reviews of each patient’s progress, and help clinical staff to make sure that each treatment plan is on track. Scheduling ward rounds with patients also helps to identify any medical problems as soon as possible.There is regular teaching involved in the ward rounds which greatly benefits ourjunior doctors and nurses. The teams are able to work more closely with each patient and get the experience of working with different people with different onditions and needs. “

UHMBT is working to achieve the Keogh standards by the end of the 2019/20 financial year.