Following the success of the first national UK pressure ulcer prevalence audit, NHS Improvement has conducted a second exercise, with Medstrom Healthcare as its central data processor.
The audits are the first of their kind in the UK and are crucial in providing NHS trusts with a better understanding of their baseline position and where to focus quality improvement efforts.
The first audit was undertaken with an initial group of 14 trusts.
The second took place last month among five NHS organisations.
As a provider of bed management services to the NHS, Medstrom was selected to work with NHS Improvement as its data co-ordinator.
The national audit workstream is an element of the wider national Stop the Pressure programme.
It comes after evidence that the definition and measurement of pressure ulcers in highly variable.
And evidence indicates this level of variation is unhelpful in supporting quality improvement activity as well as ensuring all types of harm were captured.
For the purpose of the audit, Medstrom worked with the Stop the Pressure team to develop a bespoke form that enables trusts to collect data on various factors relating to pressure ulcer prevention from an iPad.
Through working closely with Jacqui Fletcher, senior clinical advisor at NHS Improvement, a series of questions were developed around the aSSKINg bundle, as well as collating NHS trust details, such as ward lists, and importing them into a system so each organisation was able to collect its data.
In addition to co-ordinating the collation of data, Medstrom provided staff members to support the clinical teams in each of the 19 NHS trusts by inputting the prevalence data, which was a combination of information collated from patient records together with the results of skin checks.
Natalie Harrison, Medstrom product manager, said: “Our IT teams work tirelessly to set up the system and issue licences for all data inputters.
“The data inputting staff often worked late into the night to ensure all data has been entered.
“For the English audit, data was inputted by the teams on the ground directly into iPads, which sent the data straight back to Medstrom HQ, where it was presented at record-breaking speed.
“This gave Jacqui Fletcher real-time visibility of national prevalence results.”
She added: “We work hard alongside the NHS to help achieve the objective of stopping pressure ulcers.“This means we are truly aligning practices and working as a ‘partner’ with the NHS.
“We are honoured to be the central data co-ordinator and feel privileged that NHS Improvement chose our audit process to follow.”
The data collected from the audit is now being analysed by the University of Huddersfield, with results due to be published at Wounds UK next month.