Two schemes benefiting patients and staff within Nottinghamshire Healthcare have been named as winners of Regional Health and Social Care awards.
A Medical and Mental Health Unit (MMHU) developed in collaboration with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust was successful in the category of Mental Health and Wellbeing and the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Executive Mentoring Scheme came top in its group, Living the NHS Constitution.
The MMHU is a demonstration model of best practice to improve the care of older people in hospital with dementia or delirium, and has been implemented on Ward B47, a medical mental health ward at Queen’s Medical Centre.
Additional mental health trained staff have been recruited to the ward and an intensive staff education programme has been implemented. The team is multi-disciplinary and offers holistic care and comprehensive geriatric assessment. They meet regularly to make decisions about patient care and have adopted a proactive approach to communicating with patients’ carers.
The approach has resulted in a reduction in distress behaviour shown by the patients, including agitation, pacing, exit-seeking, combativeness, withdrawal or repetitive vocalisations. This has been achieved by introducing a non-confrontational and 'person-centred care' approach, which focuses on understanding the feelings and experiences of the person with dementia.
The ward environment is being adapted to meet the specific needs of the patients with clear signs, de-cluttering and reduced noise levels. The team has also developed an 'About me' document which is completed by the patient's carer at admission, and records the patient's biography, likes, dislikes, interests and how they respond to stress and what helps them.
On admission patients are assessed to determine the level of activity they can participate in and this is incorporated into the routine nursing care and also planned activities and social interaction such as games, painting and singing which are designed to decrease boredom and maintain levels of independent functioning and autonomy.
Simon Hammond, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Dementia Care said: “I am proud to be part of this exciting new venture improving standards of care for people with dementia in the acute care setting. With both Trusts working in collaboration it is bridging the gap between medical and mental health care. Ward B47 staff should be proud to accept this award for their hard work to deliver quality care in an innovative way, changing attitudes with their approach and ensuring equal consideration is given to patients’ mental health and wellbeing as to their medical needs.”
Professor Rowan Harwood, who led the development along with nursing and therapist colleagues said: “I am very proud of what the ward team have achieved. It was a leap of faith to take on a project like this, and they have worked very hard to make it work. I hope that patients and their families will be noticing the difference, during what are always difficult times; I personally have never before worked on a ward that can do the things they now do. I hope very much that other hospitals elsewhere can learn from our experience and we can spread the benefits even more widely. The research evaluation is part of this, giving us the evidence about benefits that we can take to the rest of the NHS.”
The BME Executive Mentoring Scheme was launched in 2007 as part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s commitment to strong leadership and talent management and a workforce that reflects the communities it serves. The scheme specifically offers BME staff the opportunity of being mentored by an Executive Director for 12 months on a one-to-one and group basis, with direct access to the Chief Executive.
It is the only known regional initiative of its kind to support the national NHS agenda which acknowledges the under-representation of BME staff at senior management levels. It aims to increase representation of top managers being from BME backgrounds to 30%.
Half of the first cohort have been successfully promoted and remain strong advocates of the scheme which is now running with a second group.
The current mentees were successful in bidding for £30k of funding to support initiatives they are leading on within the Trust. One of the projects is to further support and develop BME colleagues, offering development opportunities in the form of short term assignments across the Trust with the aim of providing exposure to other roles and personal development opportunities.
Lorraine Eastham, Associate Director of HR said: “We are proud that this initiative not only has the capacity to identify and develop potential amongst BME staff but also provides them with the confidence and capabilities to makean optimal contribution to their patients, colleagues and the NHS.”
The MMHU will now be considered for the National Health and Social Care Awards, winners of which will be announced on 18 November. However, the category in which the BME scheme won was a regional category specific only to the East Midlands awards.
The East Midlands’ nominees for the Health and Social Care awards were put forward by frontline staff in hospitals, primary care, mental health, ambulance services, social care teams and the voluntary sector. Each scheme or individual was nominated as an example of good practice that benefits patients and service users in one of seven categories.
