Bowel Management Patient Safety Alert (SPINE 01/19)

The request was successful.

Dear Stockport NHS Foundation Trust,

MY COLLEAGUES AND MYSELF ARE SENDING A DISCRETE AND SEPARATE FOI REQUEST TO EVERY NHS TRUST (BUT ARE ENSURING THAT NO DUPLICATE REQUEST IS MADE TO ANY ONE TRUST).

WE WOULD REQUEST THAT FOI OFFICERS SEND (VIA THE WHATDOTHEYKNOW WEBSITE PORTAL) A SIMILARLY DISCRETE AND SEPARATE RESPONSE FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TRUST.

I work for the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA), the leading national user-led charity supporting spinal cord injured people and their families. Being a user led organisation SIA understand the challenges of living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). We strive to support all people living with SCI to access the services and support they need to stay healthy and live full, fulfilling and active lives.

Part of my role is to assist the Head of Public Affairs with FOI requests, such as the one that follows. As a request under the Freedom of Information Act, please provide the following information about the recent NHS Improvement (NHSI) Patient Safety Alert “Resources to support safer bowel care for patients at risk of autonomic dysreflexia 25 July 2018”, Alert reference number: NHS/PSA/RE/2018/005

Q1. Does the Trust have a formal written policy for digital rectal examination, digital rectal stimulation and the digital removal of faeces in spinal cord injured and other patients with neurogenic bowel dysfunction?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q2. Following recommendation of this patient safety alert, did the Trust “review your local clinical policy and guidance relating to bowel assessment and management”?

(a) Yes – produced a new policy
(b) Yes - revised an existing policy
(c) Yes – retained existing policy
(d) No – did not review an existing policy
(e) No – no bowel assessment and management policy in place

Q3. Is your policy based on the policy template that the Spinal Injuries Association circulated to your trust in August 2018?

(a) Yes
(b) No
(c) No bowel assessment and management policy in place

Q4. If admitted to the Trust will a person with neurogenic bowel dysfunction receive the following bowel care intervention – Digital removal faeces?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q5. If admitted to the Trust will a person with neurogenic bowel dysfunction receive the following bowel care intervention –Digital rectal stimulation?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q6. If admitted to the Trust will a person with neurogenic bowel dysfunction receive the following bowel care intervention –Trans anal irrigation?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q7. Are staff available seven days a week to undertake these bowel care interventions?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q8. Has the Trust “reviewed your local education and training provision for interventional bowel management” as recommended in the Patient Safety Alert?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q9. As requested by the Patient Safety Alert, has the trust developed “an action plan to ensure patients have adequate and timely access to staff who are trained appropriately to carry out these procedures, including in the evening and at weekends”?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q10. Has the Trust “shared your reviewed local guidance, advice on how to identify staff who can provide Digital Removal of Faeces, and the key messages in this alert with medical, nursing and other relevant clinical staff”?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q11. Does the Trust have a policy that allows for the personal care assistants/carers of spinal cord injured patients to assist with this element of the patient's care?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Q12. As recommended in the Patient Safety Alert, have you identified “an appropriate clinical leader to co-ordinate implementation of this alert”?

(a) Yes (please answer Q13, but ignore Q14)
(b) No (please answer Q14, but ignore Q13)

Q13. What are the contact details for the “appropriate clinical leader”(ie name, position, telephone and email)?

Q14. Why has your Trust not appointed an “appropriate clinical leader”?

(a) Alert implemented without appointment of a clinical leader
(b) Took no action following Patient Safety Alert, as policy already in place
(c) Took no action. No existing policy in place
(d) Other

Q15. Are your newly registered nurses able to demonstrate the nursing procedures as required in Annexe B, section 6.5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s document ‘Future Nurse: Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses’?

(a) Yes
(b) No

Technical Note – Relevant annexe reads:-

“Annexe B
6: Use evidenced based, best practice approaches for meeting needs for care and support with bladder and bowel health
6.5: Administer enema, suppositories and undertake manual evacuation when appropriate.”

If you have any queries or require clarification on any of these questions, please contact the Spinal Injuries Association at [email address]

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Smart

FOI, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Mr Smart,

 

Thank you for your request for information, which we received via email on
the 25/02/2019.

 

Your request will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

 

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Please contact me using the address below if you have any queries.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Laura Sillitoe

Freedom of Information and Information Governance Support Officer

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

Stepping Hill Hospital

Poplar Grove

Stockport

Cheshire. SK2 7JE

Tel: 0161 419 4160 / 5295

Email: [1][Stockport NHS Foundation Trust request email]

 

This e-mail and any attachments transmitted with it are confidential and
are for the intended recipient only. If you have received this email in
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References

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FOI, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Smart, 

 

Thank you for your request for information, which we received on the
25/02/2019.

 

Please accept our apologies for the delay in our response.

 

We are pleased to attach our response to your request, which is in
portable document format (PDF) and will require Acrobat reader software to
view the document. 

 

The FOI Act gives the applicant the right to access information but does
not give an automatic right to re-use the information. The re-use of
public sector information regulations 2005 regulates how individuals or
companies re-use public sector information and provides a licensing scheme
for re-use.

 

Please note that any individuals identified do not give permission for
their personal data to be processed for the purposes of direct marketing.
Appropriate remedies will be sought in respect of any unsolicited
marketing information supplied.

 

If you have any queries about our response, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above in any future communications.

 

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to me in the first instance at the address below.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted
the complaints procedure provided by the Trust.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Laura Sillitoe

Freedom of Information and Information Governance Support Officer

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

Stepping Hill Hospital

Poplar Grove

Stockport

Cheshire. SK2 7JE

Tel: 0161 419 4160 / 5295

Email: [1][Stockport NHS Foundation Trust request email]

 

This e-mail and any attachments transmitted with it are confidential and
are for the intended recipient only. If you have received this email in
error, any reading, printing, storage, disclosure, copying or any other
action taken in respect of this e-mail is prohibited and may be unlawful.
Please notify the sender immediately by reply email and then permanently
delete the email. This e-mail and its attachments have been scanned for
viruses but we cannot guarantee that they are virus free. The recipient
should check this e-mail and any attachments for viruses. The information
contained in this email may be subject to public disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless legally exempt from disclosure,
the confidentiality of this email and your reply cannot be guaranteed

References

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