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Nurses help to design kit bag that saves time for community staff

Resource is infection control compliant and enables nurses to carry everything in one place

Resource is compliant with infection control and enables staff to carry everything in one place

Nurses have been instrumental in designing and testing a multi-purpose kit bag system, which has saved time for community care staff when visiting patients.

The kit bag is made from wipeable antimicrobial material and enables nurses to transport everything they need for each patient.

A district nursing team at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust first came up with the idea to address challenges faced by community practitioners, which included using rucksacks that were disorganised and were not compliant with infection prevention and control.

Kit bag has provided ‘many benefits’ to nurses

The trust’s practice development lead and district nurse Moraig Orpen was one of those involved in the kit bag design.

‘Our district nursing team has experienced many benefits from it,’ she said. ‘Not only is the bag compliant with infection control, but patients feel confident that nurses know what they are doing because they have got everything in one place.’

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust staff with the kit bags

The resource comprises a large bag for the boot of a car, which holds individual colour-coded insert bags containing equipment such as dressings, antibiotics or IV bags. Additionally, there is a mobile bag to transport the equipment, along with a laptop or tablet, into patients’ homes.

Trial of kit bag shows significant time and cost savings

A trial of the community kit bag with nine nurses at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust found that each nurse could save an estimated 72 hours in back-to-base trips and 32 hours in back-to-boot trips per year. This time is equivalent to 240 patient visits each year.

It is estimated that the kit bag could save trusts £2,286 per nurse per year.

Since November 2020, the kit bag has been used at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and there are plans to roll them out to more trusts across England.


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