ACSA accreditation for Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust has been accredited under the prestigious Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) scheme demonstrating their commitment to patient safety and excellence of care.
ACSA is the RCoA’s peer-reviewed scheme that promotes quality improvement and the highest standards of anaesthetic service. To receive accreditation, departments are expected to demonstrate high standards in areas such as patient experience, patient safety and clinical leadership.
Dr Jonathan Short, ACSA lead, said:
“We are tremendously proud and delighted to have been awarded accreditation of our anaesthetic clinical services at Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust by the Royal College of Anaesthetists. It has been a long and sometimes arduous journey to review every aspect of our anaesthetic practice, and to gather all the evidence to demonstrate our compliance with the ACSA standards.
It's not a challenge to be undertaken lightly, but the end result of this hard work is a clear commendation by the College of our anaesthetic department and theatre team. The external peer review team were incredibly engaged and very supportive both during our review visit and afterwards, and the ACSA staff at the College have been helpful and encouraging throughout the entire process.
Our ACSA review highlighted standards which required investment by our Trust, such as delivery of nerve catheter pumps and refurbishment of on-call facilities, and the report assisted our department immensely to gain the necessary funding from the Trust to meet these standards. Full credit for this achievement goes not just to anaesthetists of all grades in our department, but also to our pre-assessment nurses, our anaesthetic and recovery practitioners, practice development nurses, and to our management team at all levels who have supported us throughout.
We look forward to maintaining our accreditation and building upon it, despite the challenges and constraints facing the NHS, and demonstrating our ongoing commitment to excellence of anaesthetic care and clinical safety, and to ensuring the best possible patient experience throughout the perioperative pathway.”
Dr Rhys Clayton, Lead Clinical Reviewer, said:
“Congratulations to Lewisham and Greenwich on achieving ACSA accreditation. The review team were impressed with the organisation of the ACSA lead and management team. The contribution and involvement of the department in working towards ACSA accreditation showed evidence of a committed, integrated department. The achievement of ACSA accreditation shows a clear commitment to patient safety and quality improvement.”
Dr Claire Shannon, President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, said:
“I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the entire anaesthetic department on achieving ACSA accreditation. It is very impressive to see the commitment and approach of the whole department to sustaining their standards. They have demonstrated their ability and passion for providing the best possible care for their patients.
“Patient safety is at the heart of what we do as a Medical Royal College. The quality improvement demonstrated during the accreditation process has helped the department manage the immense tasks presented to them by COVID-19 and the resumption of normal services.
“It was impressive to see the innovative practices taking place at the hospital, and the excellent commitment from all staff during the process. As well as meeting the standards, the department demonstrated many areas of excellent advanced practice that have now been highlighted for sharing through the ACSA network.”