Visit to Luton and Dunstable Hospitals NHS Trust
Sir Liam Donaldson and Pauline Philip visited the Luton and Dunstable Hospitals NHS Trust to see first hand work on patient safety in frontline clinical areas. In October 2004 the hospital was selected by the Health Foundation as one of four centres of excellence in the UK for improving the safety of hospital patients. This is part of a $4 million initiative in "changing the way we work" to achieve the highest possible levels of safety for hospital patients.
Sir Liam and Pauline Philip visited the Intensive Care Unit, the Infection and Exemplar wards and the theatres. This was followed by discussion on selected patient safety topics with senior staff from the hospital.
The Luton and Dunstable Hospital is a large modern hospital providing general medical and surgical services as well as a number of specialist services. The hospital has 550 inpatient beds and employs over 2,500 staff.