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Hospital staff recognised for their efforts in improving treatment of sepsis and acute kidney injury

5 July 2017

On Thursday 22 June, over 80 NHS colleagues came together from 13 trusts across London and the south east for the final acute kidney injury (AKI) and sepsis breakthrough series (BTS) collaborative learning session.

Continuing the momentum and building on the success from six previous learning sessions, this final gathering was about sharing the great work that has been done, since the collaborative began in 2015, as well as celebrating and recognising the contribution made by both the trusts and individuals.

The impact on patients
Our opening speaker Alison Phillips, spoke about her experience with sepsis after being involved in a road traffic accident. Every element of the day was brought back to the impact of care on the patient. Alison’s experience and suffering highlighted the real human impact of patient safety to the delegates in a way that no other medium could. The powerful, detailed and well-balanced talk focused on learning rather than blaming, whilst also showing quite clearly the gaps that can occur in care pathway.

Each trust in attendance produced and presented a storyboard that highlighted the continued challenges they face and improvements made in patient care and other areas during the course of the collaborative. This ‘all share, all learn’ approach is key for trusts to make key improvements and overcome challenges that they continue to face. Hearing new ideas and methods from others helps trusts discover how best to implement new ideas and methods.

Celebrating success
Delegates were asked to cast a vote at the end of the day for the best AKI and sepsis storyboard, which kick started our celebration of the overall success of the collaborative. Dr Chris Laing, Clinical Lead for AKI, presented medals to 10 patient safety champions that were rewarded for their outstanding contribution:

  • Alison Andrews (Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Carol Bishop (Mid-Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust)
  • Rob Coe (Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust)
  • Sylvester Gomes (Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust)
  • Dr Hemavathi (Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Tehmeena Khan (Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust)
  • Katie McCormack (University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Deborah Owen (Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Omid Sadeghi-Alavijeh (Royal Free London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Zoe Whitbread (Whittington Health NHS Trust).


The BTS collaborative started in September 2015 and have now completed, as planned, inside two years. In this time we have held six learning sessions which have been attended by more than 300 participants, regular webinars, site visits and special sessions on measurement in QI. More than 50 participants have also now been through the IHI open school accreditation programme and there are users from collaborative trusts on the Life QI collaborative platform.

The UCLPartners Patient Safety team would like to thank everyone who contributed to the day, all previous learning sessions and to a successful two year programme. You can find out more about their work, here.