Can a simple behaviour change intervention help solve a common and potentially risky healthcare problem?

Yes it can!

We developed a low-cost (£176 per ward) but highly effective intervention, which successfully reduced the average duration of catheters in two of the three participating hospitals:

• At King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, catheter dwell time decreased from 13.3 days to 7.4 days
• At Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, it decreased from 13.4 days to 10.2 days.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) represent a serious healthcare challenge, with potentially severe consequences for the patient.

A ‘sell-by-date’ style reminder that grabs staff’s attention by evoking urgency and disgust was designed, delivered and evaluated through a long-term collaboration with three hospital trusts. This has translated to improvements in patient outcomes and tens of thousands in cost savings for the participating trusts.

Discover how our intervention worked in the full report.