Hip Sprint in Wales

The event on 21 May, which was planned to take place at a venue in Cardiff, saw CSP professional adviser Pip White – who is the lead on hip fracture standards – explain what Hip Sprint is, the background to its development and how physiotherapy workers have embedded it within their own rehabilitation services. 

‘The webinar provided a great opportunity to discuss hip fracture from an all-Wales perspective and highlight the tremendous amount of work going on despite the massive service changes imposed due to Covid-19,’ she said.  

Speakers included Ruth Crowder, the chief allied health professions advisor for Wales. She told attendees: ‘I’m really, really pleased to be part of this event and appreciate your interest and enthusiasm to join with us in making sure that we improve hip fracture services.  

‘Every single one of those people with poor outcomes is someone who is not able to live a longer, healthier and happier life, not able to go and do those things that matter to them. and that’s why your contribution right at the start, right on day one is so critical. It’s really vital that we start  to move the results of the [Hip Sprint] audit in Wales.’ 

Framework for AHPs 

Ms Crowder talked attendees through the Allied Health Professions framework for Wales: Looking Forward Together, which was published last November. It has two key purposes, she explained: ‘To drive transformation of our services and our professional skill to ensure that we focus on citizens achieving outcomes that matter to them, and that they’re able to experience the highest quality of care and treatment at all times. 

‘The second purpose is that we as professionals start to work collectively and individually to embed that value based healthcare approach, so that we’re all able to apply our skills, experience and professional values to lead and deliver evidence based care, making sure that we improve the lives of the citizens in Wales.’ 

Sam Perera, performance improvement manager for NHS Wales Delivery Unit, acknowledged that, in recent years, health boards’ performance on hip fracture rehabilitation needed improvement. 

‘We had to do something differently in Wales.’ she said.  

Implementing the audits 

Hip Sprint audits became central to the improvement plans. She talked delegates through the planning and process in Wales, emphasising the key role of health professionals in the subsequent improvements. 

‘Lots of work went into deciding how can we give the health boards as much ownership as possible and give them the locus of control,’ she said. 

‘We asked every single health board to set up a hip fracture meeting locally, so you’re having that discussion in your own health boards. Some of these were already set up, some were very good and some of them were set up but needed a bit more focus on the audit cycle, on really making tangible changes that would impact on patient care. And some weren’t set up at all.’  

Talking through the audit results, which demonstrated the improvements made in the different health boards, Ms Perera highlighted the usefulness of the data as insight for evaluation and planning purposes. 

‘The audit data on the NHS is absolutely brilliant. The hip sprint is completely brilliant,’ she said. 

We have got access to some amazing data sources and I would really encourage you to embrace it.  

Use the data, it gives you – just like with your patients – a knowledge and it provides feedback. And when you see things improving it is just so rewarding.’