West Mid anticoagulation team win prestigious award

A multidisciplinary team at West Middlesex University Hospital were delighted to be named as the winner in the recent prestigious Anticoagulation Achievement Awards, for Best Comprehensive Thrombosis Management Centre. 

Hosted in the Terrace Pavilion, House of Commons, on 10 October 2018, the awards recognise the outstanding work of the medical centres, teams and individuals involved, and also offer a learning resource to others.

Held as part of the celebrations for World Thrombosis Day—a global movement to reduce the leading cause of preventable cardiovascular death—the team was praised for the exemplary service they have developed and now run.  

The award was presented the award by Frances Akor, Consultant Pharmacist, Anticoagulation with Imperial Healthcare, who commented: “With no extra resources or funding, the dedicated team have worked to streamline care across the two pathways—atrial fibrillation and thrombosis with their key objective to improve patient experience, quality of care and outcomes.

“In achieving quality improvement—that is, successful change that is embedded and sustainable—the service has:

• Successfully secured collaboration across multiple specialists and disciplines
• Involved patients in planning, review and solution finding
• Made sure continued training was undertaken and available to all staff”

The awards celebrate outstanding practice in the management, education and provision of anticoagulation across the UK. Finalists were selected from entries spanning seven categories open to public nominations:

• Prevention of Hospital Acquired Thrombosis
• Best Adherence of NICE Quality Standards in AF
• Prevention of Cancer Associated Thrombosis
• Best Comprehensive Thrombosis Management Centre
• Best Sharing Information Resource for Patients and Carers
• Best on-going management of Thrombosis in Primary or Community Care
• VTE Hero Award
• Unsung Hero
• Judges Award

1 in 4 people worldwide die of conditions caused by blood clots, also known by the medical term thrombosis—the underlying cause of the world’s top three cardiovascular killers: heart attack, stroke and venous thromboembolism (VTE). 

Blood clots (thrombosis) can form in any part of the body but are most common in the legs. This is known as a ‘DVT’ (deep vein thrombosis), and parts of the clot can break off and travel to the lungs to cause a pulmonary embolism (PE), the heart to cause a heart attack, or the brain which can lead to a stroke. Blood clots are serious an often life-threatening.

• Full details of finalists and award winners is available at www.anticoagulationawards.org