Last week we held our Virtual Quality Awards to celebrate the amazing work of our staff. Each award was announced and presented virtually by a senior leader and there was even some dancing too!
The winners from each category and a bit about why they were such well deserved winners is listed below:
Inspiring Safety Award winner – Rainbow Ward, Mother and Baby Unit
Rainbow Ward, led by Ward Manager Claire Knight, has implemented an initiative supporting patient safety during admission and after discharge. Patients can be overwhelmed by becoming a new mother. A significant risk within perinatal mental health is deliberate self-harm and harm to their children. Reintroducing activities and increasing self-worth through social inclusion can significantly reduce this risk. During admission, staff really get to know their patients and encourage them to take part in new activities on the ward and talk about any previous hobbies. When patients are discharged, the team gives them a ‘discharge pack’ which includes a directory of contacts to allow them to continue to engage in activities in their local community. Staff have had incredible feedback from patients and their carers on the positive impact the discharge pack has had on keeping patients safe.
Transforming Lives Award winner – Ray Mansfield, Support Worker, Discharge Coordination Team, Basildon
Ray has a gift for knowing how to connect and engage with people. In his role as support worker with the discharge co-ordination team, he shows a remarkable ability to build excellent rapport with even the most challenging of patients. Many of the service users he works with struggle to secure long-term accommodation. Thanks to the Ray’s relationships with partners at housing providers and homeless projects, more positive outcomes are being achieved for those with nowhere to live. Through his hard work and caring and compassionate nature, Ray has helped several patients secure accommodation. Ray’s colleagues describe him as gentle, intuitive, respectful and honest – he goes out of his way to do his best for service users.
Valued Partner Award winner – PC Deborah Martin, Southend High Intensity Focus Team (SHIFT)
PC Deborah Martin works alongside two EPUT mental health nurses as part of SHIFT, a partnership between local police and mental health services launched in August 2019. The team, the first of its kind in South East Essex, provides focused support to a small group of clients who are high intensity users of services. Working with SHIFT, Deborah has made a real difference to clients’ lives, monitoring their mental and physical health, helping them to reconnect with their families, and supporting them through addiction, education, and personal discovery. Deborah’s compassion, understanding and commitment have helped to reduce clients’ ‘crisis behaviours’ and ease strain on ambulance, police, A&E and EPUT mental health services.
Outstanding Team of the Year Award winner – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Inpatient Team
The hard work of our CAMHS inpatient teams, based in Colchester and Rochford, have earned the services an outstanding rating from the CQC. The teams have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to change and quality improvement, taking into account both comments from the CQC and from young people who use their services. Initiatives such as renaming wards, reducing the frequency of alarm sounds, and introducing a new supervised internet access group have been proposed by young people and implemented by staff. The team provide high quality, safe, and innovative care with a compassionate and understanding approach that makes a huge difference to the lives of young people using mental health services.
Outstanding Innovation Award winner – Hockley Clinic
Recognising the ever-growing demands of a rapidly changing NHS and increasing pressure on community nurses, staff at Hockley Clinic realised that they needed to adapt. At the beginning of the year, they piloted ‘Task Team’, created with the aim of assessing and allocating patient visit requests efficiently to reduce the number of unplanned visits staff had to make. Task Team gives staff more time to plan their day and enables more holistic patient care. The team’s efforts have really paid off and with the full support of both their modern matron and associate director, they have now fully implemented Task Team and are piloting the scheme across South East Essex. Feedback from staff has shown that Task Team is helping reduce stress levels and service users have reported feeling happier.
Outstanding Leader of the Year Award winner – Tracy Reed, Clinical Lead, End of Life Care
Tracy worked tirelessly to lead all our clinical teams to achieve outstanding end-of-life care which was recognised at our last CQC inspection. She works incredibly hard to improve the quality of care for patients and has significantly improved end-of-life care across the trust in under a year. Tracy puts the wellbeing and welfare of patients and loved ones at the heart of everything she does. She is always available to answer questions and queries from colleagues – particularly if she’s aware of a patient whose care may need specialist support. Tracy is dedicated to raising professional standards through education and training and is a great mentor. She has worked hard to build strong relationships across the trust and with other organisations in Essex. She acknowledges when things go wrong and her kindness and humour make her the nurse everyone should strive to be.
Outstanding Trainee of the Year Award winner – Sofi Shepherd, Senior Support Worker, West Essex Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team
Sofi has been working in the West Essex Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team as a senior support worker over the past two years. Recently, she has also started on the health and social care apprenticeship programme, which she balances admirably with her full-time employment in the team. Sofi is an invaluable asset to the team. She shows great care and compassion when working with patients in crisis. One colleague recalls seeing Sofi accompanying a patient in an ambulance, calming her down and supporting her when other colleagues had been unable to do so. Patients trust Sofi, and so do her colleagues – her organisational skills have been of great use to the team, and she has helped to set up a new team telephone directory. Sofi is constantly seeking new learning opportunities, suggesting new ways of working, and striving to improve patient experience.
Outstanding Improvement Award winner – Clifton Lodge Dementia Care Home
The dining experience for all 35 residents at Clifton Lodge in Westcliff on Sea was redesigned and vastly improved after discussions involving staff, residents and their families. Bright and cheerful colours were chosen for new menus and table cloths and signage using visual aids were developed. This allowed residents to make more choices about what they ate and drank. Staff also involved residents in discussing what they want to have for lunch and supper. Mealtimes are now more welcoming and enjoyable. The staff put on communal events designed to ensure that residents and their families have time together. The staff also ensure residents are receiving the nutritious food and drink they need. This improvement was achieved with little additional money and is wholeheartedly supported by the staff who have been enthusiastic, committed, creative and willing to go the extra mile.
Governor Award winner – Mark Hayes, Team Manager
Mark Hayes is quite literally a life saver. He was on duty as Team Manager at Essex STaRS when he was alerted to a service user who had collapsed after a suspected heroin overdose. Mark acted instantly to give the service user Naloxone to counteract the effects of the overdose. He then stayed with the patient, supporting and stabilising them until emergency services arrived. Mark’s swift actions undoubtedly saved the patient’s life and whole-heartedly demonstrate his commitment to helping improve the lives of others.
Chair Award (clinical) joint winner – Zimbabwe Life Project
The Zimbabwe Life Project is celebrating two successful years of partnership between Zimbabwe and the voluntary work of a team of mental health nurses at EPUT. The project team raised funds and visited Zimbabwe to train other hospitals in mental health care. They also sent much-needed medical donations to the hospitals in Zimbabwe where there is a shortage of supplies. Due to limited pharmacological resources in Zimbabwe, the team is exploring the extent to which alternative therapies are used to manage symptoms of mental illness. This work has strengthened relationships and engagement between the project and mental health providers in Zimbabwe. The project has been included in a review of the Zimbabwe Mental Health National Strategy by the Ministry of Health.
Chair Award (clinical) joint winner – Emma Hills, Macmillan Community Colorectal Nurse
Emma is a nurse within our community colorectal supported self-management service who directs patients with colon cancer to the best pathway for their needs. The focus is on well-being, recovery and empowering people to have an active role in their care. Emma has achieved some great results in one year and, having developed all the pathways, now has 112 patients on her caseload. Emma has a holistic approach to patient care identifying not only disease progression and physical problems but also social, psychological and practical patient needs and offers appropriate support. Emma runs the end-of-treatment clinic for all patients finishing their treatment for bowel cancer. Emma and her colleague, a prostate specialist cancer nurse, have been accepted to present at an international cancer nurse conference to further share this innovative service.
Chair Award (non-clinical) winner – Kim Shaw, Head of Infection Control
Kim was nominated by a number of colleagues, recognising the sheer will and determination she showed throughout last year’s flu campaign to ensure that we reached our target. Kim also led our preparations for dealing with COVID-19 working tirelessly since February to ensure that our staff and patients have the information and resources they need to stay safe and be protected against the transmission of COVID-19. She has shown true leadership, dedication and passion throughout.
CEO Award winner – Basildon Mental Health Service
Basildon Mental Health Service arranged two very successful events for patients, staff, carers and visitors which had a very positive impact on those who attended. The first was a festival to promote positive mental health. The event was well attended and had its own drinks tent, snacks, DJ and a rap inspired by patient experiences. The second event marked World Mental Health Day with an Oktoberfest theme. There were a number of activities for everyone including hook the duck, tombola and cake making. The team ensured all patients were involved in the activities including the most high-risk patients. Staff gave up their free time to run the events, demonstrating the true meaning of empathy and dedication.
Congratulations also go to our highly commended nominees:
Inspiring Safety Award
Rob Peers and Rachel Whyte
Transforming Lives Award
Helen Hicks
Valued Partner Award
Johnathon Scott-Laws
Outstanding Team of the Year Award
SWIFT team
Outstanding Innovation Award
Sue John
Outstanding Leader of the Year Award
Helen Cruickshank
Outstanding Trainee of the Year Award
Faye Smale
Outstanding Improvement Award
Beech Ward multidisciplinary team
Governor Award
Marie Cleary
Chair Award (non-clinical)
Psychology Administrators at Cherry Trees
CEO Award
Jack Moule, Gary Brisco and Anthea Hockly