Dorset County Hospital bosses have vowed to lead the way on patient safety.

As the Dorchester hospital launched its patient safety week initiative, DCH NHS Foundation Trust chairman Jeffrey Ellwood unveiled a banner illustrating ways in which the board has responded to patient concerns and improved safety.

Mr Ellwood said: “It starts with me, it starts with the board.”

Throughout this week patient safety will be pushed to the forefront at hospitals across the country.

Deputy director of nursing Vanessa Read explained: “Patient safety week is a national initiative.

“At Dorset County Hospital we are using patient safety week to share across the organisation the changes in practice hospital staff have made over the last year to improve the safety of the services we provide to patients.

“The trust can demonstrate improved safety having introduced the VitalPAC, a clinical system which provides an early warning system to advise clinicians when a patient’s condition worsens.

“Infection rates have reduced, VTE [blood clot] prevention assessment has improved and unannounced inspections by the Care Quality Commission and the Primary Care Trust have not uncovered any major concerns.”

Improvements include increasing safety in operating theatres through the introduction of daily safety briefings between doctors and the nursing staff, with the hospital also using a patient centred checklist devised by the World Health Organisation for every patient that requires surgery.

In the critical care unit safety briefings happen on all shifts and patient diaries have been introduced so they can read what happened during the time they were sedated in the intensive care setting.

The intensive care unit has now gone nearly four years since its last MRSA bloodstream infection.

The hospital’s Safe Practice Committee has been reviewing all medication incidents at the hospital and provides regular bulletins for clinical staff to follow with advice to improve patient safety.

On the wards a focus on earlier identification of deteriorating patients has been aided by the new electronic flagging system VitalPAC and the introduction of bedside handover of nursing shifts.