Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT)

GIRFT’s national report on oral and maxillofacial surgery was published in November 2018, with 15 recommendations aimed at making improvements in the specialty.

Most OMFS units in England have now had a deep dive meeting with the GIRFT team, reviewing their data, looking at the context of any unwarranted variations, discussing challenges and sharing best practice. After the deep dive visit, trusts receive a report on the findings and then develop their own action plans to address areas in need of improvement.

GIRFT’s implementation teams offer support in developing and driving forward those actions. Implementation managers are in regular contact with clinicians in all trusts and across all specialties. There are seven GIRFT regional hubs – if you are not sure who your GIRFT implementation manager is, visit GIRFT for contact details.

There are also a number of clinical ambassadors in each regional hub. These are senior clinicians who can support you and your hospital team to deliver on both deep dive recommendations and the recommendations from the OMFS national report.

My report highlighted a distinct lack of clinical outcome measures in our specialty. BAOMS has already taken action on this through the development of the QOMS project, led by Jeremy McMahon and project manager Fabien Pugila. The team is also working with the National Clinical Improvement Programme (NCIP) to produce measurable outcomes for OMFS.

A last word on the GIRFT Surgical Site Infection survey, now being run for the second time. Only a few OMFS units submitted data for the first survey - this time it is being organised in a different way and I hope the contribution from OMFS units will improve. Information about the survey has gone out to chief executives across the country so you should be able to access it in your trust. If you have not yet heard about it, ask your audit department for more details or visit GIRFT 

Maire Morton, author of the GIRFT national report on oral and maxillofacial surgery and consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is delivered in partnership with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust and NHS Improvement.