It was great to visit Stoke Mandeville Hospital this morning to meet two award-winning teams. Doctors, nurses and researchers in pain management have developed a new way to help patients with rib fractures, with a mobile unit that goes to individual wards. Once the pain relief has been administered to the appropriate part of the body, the patient can get up and walk around, rather than being confined to bed where older patients in particular can be more likely to succumb to conditions like pneumonia. The rapid relief programme has resulted in a massive drop in admissions to Intensive Care and proved extremely popular with patients and staff alike. It’s an idea I’ll be encouraging the Department for Health to roll out nationally.
In the Research and Innovation Centre, I met members of the team who have played a crucial role in cardiac services. I also heard about a drug that can cut cholesterol and so reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The great news is that you don’t need to go to hospital to get it, so I hope local GPs will be able to prescribe it to eligible residents. Patient care isn’t just about drugs, of course, and there is fascinating work going on in technology and even AI to improve services to patients, ranging from the delivery of implants by drone to VR headsets to help staff with their wellbeing.
Much of this work goes unseen by the public, so I was pleased to be able to celebrate so much success at our local hospital today. Ideas like these will help speed up treatment times and reduce the pressure on beds, in turn making a better NHS for us all.
