The Acute Medical Unit (AMU) of the Princess of Wales hospital has been identified as a “hot spot” for pressure ulcers (aka. bed sores) and patient falls in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board area.
This is according to a report drafted by the health board’s Quality & Safety Committee (pdf).
Most pressure ulcers are unavoidable and the relative harm caused to patients is low, however if they’re left too long they can become infected. Additional monitoring and a programme to reduce the number of bedsores amongst patients have been introduced. The early indications are that the number of avoidable bedsores across the Bridgend area has been cut.
There’s a similar pattern and set of measures to deal with patient falls. A successful project to cut the number of falls at the Angleton Clinic (at Glanrhyd Hospital) has been picked out as something that can be replicated elsewhere.
Elsewhere, the health board are in talks with Bridgend Council to speed up delayed discharges from hospital. This is to help the A&E department deal with long waiting times and enable more patients to be released from ambulances.
