Dr Foster has named Airedale NHS Trust Small Trust of the Year, recognising their excellent contribution to quality care in the NHS. Airedale General Hospital is one of 20 sites involved in phase 2 of the Health Foundation’s Safer Patients Initiative.
The Dr Foster Hospital Guide aims to inform patients and help hospitals assess their changing patterns of performance and look for opportunities for improvement. Airedale NHS Trust received the award for the second time in three years.
Adam Cairns, the trust’s chief executive, believes the trust’s success is partly thanks to the strength of its clinical leadership. It has, for instance, transformed its stroke service and improved its acute admissions process. Adam Cairns said, ‘We are particularly pleased to be praised for our comparative hospital mortality and for our work in more complex surgical areas that means our services are safer than ever.
Jo Bibby, Health Foundation Director of Improvement Programmes said, ‘We were delighted to hear that Airedale were awarded the Small Trust of the Year award. Their achievements in the Safer Patients Initiative have been impressive, particularly their successful work to introduce pre-operative safety briefings across their whole surgical service.’
Tom Moloney, Chief Executive of Dr Foster Intelligence, said, ‘We were very impressed by Airedale NHS Trust’s consistently high scores across a range of measures that included patient satisfaction, waiting times, infection control and the lowest mortality rates. We’re also pleased to learn of their success in transforming stroke services and introducing a new approach to acute admissions, particularly for patients aged over 80.’