STAFF at the Royal Bolton Hospital say they would be happy to be treated in its critical care department - making it the best in Greater Manchester for its safety culture.

The department which covers intensive care and high dependency came top of 13 such units in a staff survey on topics including whether staff would be happy to be treated there themselves.

Bolton also came out best for communication, training, being a learning organisation, morale, unit management, and provision of resources.

The department came second for staffing levels and hospital management.

Dr Dan Nethercott, Clinical Lead for Critical Care at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust: “It will be very reassuring for patients to know that the staff’s attitude to safety is so good at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

"Patients in critical care units can be very vulnerable, for instance to infections, so we have been working hard to reduce the risk and concentrate on safety.”

Dr Nethercott cited the example of pneumonia, to which patients on ventilators in critical care units can be particularly susceptible. At Bolton, efforts by staff to tighten procedures have reduced the number of cases of ventilated-associated pneumonia by one third in the last 18 months.

The department has also greatly reduced the risk of infection by supporting staff to closely monitor their own and each other’s compliance with infection-prevention methods.

To see Dr Nethercott speaking about the survey results: visit youtube https://youtu.be/q9AQQcPlP6s