THE patient-centred anticoagulation service at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) has been shortlisted for a prestigious award.

The team has been recognised in the category of the ‘Improving Medicines Safety Award’ at this year’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2023.

The HSJ Patient Safety Awards recognise safety, culture and positive experiences in patient care nationally; acknowledging the efforts of teams and individuals across the UK who are continually striving to deliver improved patient care. 

The patient centred anticoagulation service has moved the monitoring of anticoagulant medication care from a traditional hospital-based service to an approach where patients are cared for in the community.  

Anticoagulation treatment reduces the risk of blood clots forming. Most patients taking anticoagulant medication need to do so for life and require regular blood tests to check their levels, which can have a great impact on their lives. 

The anticoagulation team began work in 2019 to establish multi-disciplinary teams so that patients could have their regular checks in community based-settings, avoiding the need to travel to the hospital and wait there for test results. 

The first session was held in Harlow in March 2020 and has since been extended across Bishop’s Stortford and Epping and surrounding communities. The teams have also introduced home visits for patients who are unable to travel to community clinics, which has improved patient safety and reduced the burden on district nurse teams.

There are now 12 sessions each week and since April 2020 over 50,000 tests have been carried out.

Claire Gibson, anticoagulation speciality lead at PAHT, said: “As a team we are absolutely delighted that our patient centred anticoagulation service has received this recognition. I am enormously proud of the whole team as they work extremely hard and always put the patient at the centre of everything they do.

“Our thanks also go to everyone involved across the multi-disciplinary teams for their engagement and support, which has been pivotal to the success of the service implementation.”