Dedicated staff at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital have achieved excellent results in reducing the number of patients suffering blood clots following their hospital stay.
Only 94 out of 87,481 patients who spent time at the hospital during the last year went on to develop a clot- a 99.6% success rate.
The success is due to rigorous procedures implemented by the hospital to ensure that blood clot risk assessments are carried out on patients and that appropriate measures are taken to ensure that there is no danger of a clot developing.
Blood clots can occur following injuries or when a person is immobilised for a long period of time; therefore hospital patients are particularly at risk of developing clots in arteries or veins.
They have a risk that is 1,000 times greater than airline passengers, especially following surgery and other forms of care.
A national prevention programme was launched in 2009 and the team at the hospital have implemented a local version of these procedures.
Consultant Zaheer Babar said: “These results are fantastic and are due to the dedicated care and hard work of everyone at the hospital. Nurses, doctors, pharmacy staff, everyone who is involved in the patient context has played a part in bringing about this success.
“A big thank you to our wonderful anti-coagulation nurses who have done so much work to educate everyone about the importance of assessment and prevention of thrombosis.
“We look at the risk factors with patients and if we think they are at risk, we start them on medication so they do not develop blood clots during the hospital stay or after the hospital stay.”
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