Oldham CCU saluted for delivering highest standard of care

Staff on the Critical Care Unit at The Royal Oldham Hospital are celebrating after achieving a remarkable Green NAAS status accreditation score.

The unit have achieved one of the best ratings since the NAAS scheme was established at Pennine Acute Trust in 2016 and this is great news for patients, who can be assured that the unit is delivering the highest standard of quality nursing care.

The Nursing Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS) measures the quality of nursing care delivered by individuals and teams and provides evidence that teams are meeting the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) fundamental compassionate care standards - the 6Cs of: care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment.

The Nursing Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS) is a trust-wide initiative and performance framework system that was originally introduced at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

It has since been introduced on Pennine Acute Hospital sites, when the two trusts began to work together as part of the new Northern Care Alliance (NCA) group.

The NAAS assessment measures 13 standards covering areas including patient safety, infection control, safeguarding, medicines management and a number of other key care standards.

It is designed to support nurses to understand how they deliver care, identify what works well and areas where further improvement is needed.

A NAAS assessment involves the assessors spending a full early shift on the ward: observing handover and safety huddles, reviewing patient documentation, observing the team in practice and reviewing staff training.

Wards are assessed and scored using a rating system of red, amber or green.

Wards that are rated as green are audited every eight months.

When the critical care team were assessed, they were scored as green overall with 12 green standards and one amber standard.

This was an excellent score and the highest number of greens ever achieved since the Pennine Acute Trust began using the NAAS system.

Wendy Clapham, Assistant Director of Nursing Services on the Intensive Care Unit, said: “The critical care team have really embraced NAAS and we are absolutely thrilled to have achieved Green NAAS status.

"Achieving the highest score of any ward to date was an unexpected but welcome bonus.

"Achieving this status means that our patients can be confident that they are receiving safe, clean and individualised care and this means the world to our staff.” 

Other wards who have achieved Green NAAS status at The Royal Oldham Hospital include: A&E, G1, F9, T4 and T5.

Many other wards are also currently working towards this coveted status.

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