An anaesthetist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has received an award for clinician of the year at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) National Healthcare Finance Awards.
Dr Adrian Kwa, Specialist Anaesthetist and Head of Service for Ophthalmology, received the Working with Finance – Clinician of the Year accolade, in recognition for his work to improve NUH’s cataract surgery, which has seen the patient list almost double with further plans to improve the number of procedures.
Working with the NUH Working to Achieve Value and Excellence (WAVE) team, the ophthalmic theatre team has increased the number of cataract surgeries performed on our theatre lists by changing the way they work.
NUH used to perform four to five cataract cases per four-hour theatre session when the national target is eight cases in a session.
Dr Kwa successfully bid for dedicated equipment, which significantly reduced turnaround times between procedures with a new pathway that was supported by a multi-skilled, professional team.
The improvements have led to significant culture changes leading to fantastic teamwork, which is inspiring other team members to innovate alongside improvements in staff satisfaction and retention.
Dr Kwa said:
“This could not have happened without the hard work and dedication of our ophthalmic theatre staff, and I am glad that they have already been recognised with a NUH Team Award.
“I am obviously delighted to be recognised nationally as HFMA Clinician of the Year, but like my team, we didn’t do this for awards and recognition. We did this for the benefit our patients.”
Dr Kwa was nominated by Richard Smith, Deputy Programme Director of the Financial Transformation Team who said:
“Adrian’s commitment and leadership throughout the journey has been inspiring. His ongoing support, not just internally to the cataract team, but to other NUH teams who have similar problems to solve has also inspired improvements.
“His dedication to also ensuring the learning and sharing of this best practice has spread to the whole NHS through the Get It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme, which is why I believe Adrian is worthy of such an honour.”
