Our emergency departments (EDs) at Queen’s and King George Hospitals are among the busiest in London and alongside their teams, our consultants work hard to care for lots of patients with a vast variety of conditions.

Now three of them are going a step further to keep our patients safe as all our medical leads for critical illness are ED doctors. While it’s most often ED doctors who care for critically ill patients at our hospitals, it’s unusual for all medical leads to be from the same department.

They are: Modupe Odelola, sepsis lead, Salim Ghantous, our trauma director, and Amarendra Vasireddy, lead for venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Modupe (pictured), who became sepsis lead not long after joining our Trust in 2018, is passionate about helping our staff understand the importance of identifying and treating sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection.

She said: “It’s really important in ED we recognise and escalate when a patient has sepsis quickly as they need initial treatment within an hour to have the best chance of survival. I started as lead for ED, then was asked to take over the acute division before eventually becoming sepsis lead for the entire Trust in 2020.

“I wasn’t sure it was for me at first as I wanted trauma! However, I’ve become more passionate as time has gone on and I’m proud that our compliance with sepsis standards is much better than the national average.

“We had 3,000 patients with sepsis last year and my aim is to create a database to allow us to look at trends and characteristics so we can learn how to avoid it. Eventually I’d like to be able to break down and share data so other trusts can also learn from it.”

Modupe’s responsibilities also include ensuring all clinical staff are trained in spotting and treating sepsis.

One of the reasons Salim (above), our trauma director and a surgeon by background, loves his role is because of how rewarding it can be.

He said: “There’s a lot of action – we had 567 trauma calls last year and 15,000 trauma patients in ED. This can be anything from a major car accident to someone falling over, particularly if they are frail. The most rewarding aspect for the team caring for these patients is the opportunity to save lives.

“My role is to improve outcomes for our patients. The majority of our trauma patients are elderly which is why we introduced a specific pathway for this last year. Older people can die of broken ribs so it’s important they get the right treatment quickly, as well as pain management to keep them comfortable. We’ve also introduced a trauma course for ED trainees to help them gain confidence and experience in this area.”

Amarendra (above), who has been at our Trust since 2002, became lead for VTE management earlier this year. VTE is when blood clots form in a deep vein, usually the lower leg, thigh, or pelvis.

He said: “It can be a silent killer and is caused by inactivity, which is why people in hospital are at risk. Patients spending long periods in bed can get clots in their legs which travel to their lungs, this can be fatal for vulnerable patients.

“There is good teamwork alongside our Physiotherapy department in reducing risks of VTE across our Trust, including giving anticoagulants to thin the blood for those at risk, stockings, or using devices to improve circulation and prevent clotting. There is still room to improve and I want to raise awareness so everyone knows what it is. It’s particularly important we remind our junior doctors about timely assessments.  

“I want us to be starting VTE management earlier and this means spotting it quicker, by assessing patients promptly on admission, and at 24 and 72 hours after. We’ve also introduced a mandatory training course on VTE management for all staff, via our training platform, BEST. I urge all staff to complete this.

“I want us to be exemplar in reducing cases. I’ve been at our Trust for a long time and volunteered for this role, I feel lucky to have opportunities to contribute to our Trust.”

Amarendra is also keen to raise more public awareness about the condition, especially as it can be caused by long periods of inactivity, such as sitting watching TV. He encouraged everyone to be more active, even just getting up to walk around regularly on days when sitting for long periods.

As well as caring for patients on the frontline, all our clinical leads are also responsible for gathering data and completing audits in their areas, as well as overseeing trainees and using their skills and experience to improve care for our patients.

Ahmed Soliman, our Deputy Medical Director for Professional Standard, said: “Our clinical leads work hard to do this additional work alongside their clinical commitments.

“It’s a happy coincidence that all our leads for critical illnesses are from ED. Given that our department is one of the most under pressure in the country, it’s right that we should celebrate the achievements of our staff who are working incredibly hard for patients.”