Stoke Mandeville Hospital Inpatient Pain Team shortlisted for national industry award

A specialist team at Stoke Mandeville Hospital have been shortlisted for a national award.

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust announced that the Inpatient Pain Team’s Mobile Block Unit has been shortlisted for Deteriorating Patients and Rapid Response Initiative of the Year at this year’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2023.

The Mobile Block Unit, provides rapid regional analgesia – numbing a particular part of the body for pain relief - for patients admitted with traumatic rib fractures and who are at risk of deterioration, wherever they are in the hospital and not just in theatres, the trust states.

Rib fracture admissions have increased from 22 in 2018 to 103 in 2022.

According to the NHS these patients are increasingly elderly, frail and with worse injuries. Rib fractures, especially in older patients, are associated with a high risk of complications such as chest infections, ICU admission, longer stays in hospital and higher mortality.

They usually result in poorer quality-of-life for at least two years after initial injury. Since establishing the Mobile Block Unit, ICU admissions from rib fractures have fallen from 2 per cent to less than one per cent, and deaths in 30 days from nine per cent to five per cent.

Dr Nav Bahal, lead consultant for Inpatient Pain Services at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: “I am very proud to lead our Acute Pain Team whose work on mobile regional anaesthesia service has been shortlisted for the HSJ Patient Safety Awards.

“It’s great to gain recognition for a team who have thought outside the box, working with stakeholders and patients to find a solution to significantly improve the experience of rib fracture patients at risk of rapid deterioration.”

The full list of nominees for the HSJ Awards 2023 can be found online.

The official awards ceremony to announce the overall winners in each category will take place at Manchester Central Convention Complex on 18 September.

Dozens of awards will be handed out with a panel of judges from across the NHS and wider healthcare sector will select the overall winners.