Shropshire hospital trust staff in America to get health and cost-cutting tips

In July it was announced that staff from the Virginia Mason in Seattle, Washington, will be sharing their practices over the next five years with five health trusts in Britain – including the one running Shropshire's two main hospitals, the Royal Shrewsbury and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

Virginia Mason is a 336-bed acute care hospital known for its programmes to reduce healthcare operating costs and waste.

It is hoped that adopting practices used in America will eventually help to cut the 800 avoidable deaths estimated to occur in hospitals in England every month.

On Monday, two members of staff from SaTH flew to Seattle for the week to learn some of the techniques used there.

A lot then falls on the shoulders of the two members of staff from the trust which runs Shropshire's Princess Royal and Royal Shrewsbury hospitals who have flown out to a hospital in Seattle which is said to be the safest in the world.

The idea is that they will get an insight into best practice which they will bring back with them. It will be like a magic pill brought from America which will do wonders for our hospitals.

That, at least, is the hope – that there will be a demonstrable improvement in patient outcomes.

Indeed, if that is shown to be a consequence of this American trip, whoever it is who thought of going out there will get a slap on the back.

Our hospitals should always strive to improve and if somewhere else is achieving an outstanding performance in terms of patient safety, then why not learn the lessons in the pursuit of excellence?

Cathy Smith, who has been appointed as the trust's Virginia Mason programme lead, has been joined by Nick Holding, head of improvement and transformation.

They will bring the lessons they learn back to the trust to help staff begin the five-year programme of improvement.

Cathy, who before her appointment was the women and children's care group director and head of midwifery at SaTH, said: "

I have received incredible support both from colleagues in my care group and from colleagues across the trust. I think that shows people are excited to be involved in a project which will help to improve outcomes for our patients, with the aim of making our hospitals among the safest in the world."

The £12 million government-funded programme will cover the cost of travel between England and Seattle for Virginia Mason and NHS staff. Clinicians and leaders from Virginia Mason will teach NHS staff the systems that made it so successful.

Staff from Virginia Mason will spend time at SaTH helping the doctors, nurses and leaders figure out how they can improve using the tools developed in Seattle.

The partnership are part of a scheme launched by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the NHS Trust Development Authority. After creating and implementing the Virginia Mason Production System, nurses were able to spend more time with their patients. Virginia Mason estimated on average nurses spent about 35 per cent of their time in direct patient care. After transforming its systems this increased to 90 per cent.

The other trusts to benefit are: University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust; Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust; Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.