Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals has been highly commended in the Patient Safety Team of the Year category at this week’s Patient Safety Awards for its Warrington COVID Cooperative which recognised the culture of cooperation and innovation between Respiratory, Intensive Care, Physiotherapy and the Acute Care teams during the pandemic.

The Patient Safety Team of the Year category recognised the work of the combined team of WHH Respiratory and Critical Care in developing the Warrington Covid Cooperative between relevant stakeholders. This culture of cooperation and innovation between Respiratory, Intensive Care, Physiotherapy and the Acute Care teams ensured excellent, timely communication and continuity of care. Twice daily joint safety huddles were hosted to maintain clear lines of communication when the team was responding to multiple calls to prevent unnecessary delays in transferring patients to critical care, identifying overnight concerns and patients on high levels of oxygen therapy.  

The Trust was also shortlisted in the Deteriorating Patients and Rapid Response Initiative of the Year, Patient Safety Innovation of the Year (for the Warrington ‘Black Box’ CPAP device) categories and its maternity team was shortlisted for the Continuity of Carer project in the Maternity and Midwifery Initiative of the Year category. 

The judging panel is made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community including Sue Smith OBE (Executive Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, University Hospitals Morecambe Bay FT), Rachel Power (Chief Executive, The Patients Association), Dr Hester Wain (Head of Patient Safety Policy, NHS England and NHS Improvement).