A hat-trick – celebrating three winners in the National Service User Awards
The Trust is celebrating a hat-trick in the National Service User Awards – with three winners from five shortlisted projects.
The winners came from across Rampton Hospital (high secure hospital) and Arnold Lodge (medium secure unit) and showcased co-production and patient involvement at its best.
Dr Sue Elcock, Executive Medical Director/Executive Director of Forensic Services said:
“We were delighted to see the work of both units in meeting service user needs recognised at these fabulously inclusive awards. Both teams focussed on service users taking a key role in the highlighted projects, sharing exciting experiences that will benefit those who took part and serving as an inspiration to others.
“We always aim to use current experiences to improve the future experience of everyone accessing our services and I am proud of the achievements celebrated in these awards. I hope that they will inspire similar work across the Trust.”
The winning projects were:
Health and Wellbeing Award - Create & Resonate, Rampton Hospital: Over a 10-week period, service users from Rampton attended a specially designed programme which aimed to explore performance and improvisation skills and raise self-esteem. It culminated in five patients from the male mental health service each performing live for an audience of almost 40 peers and a range of staff.
Glenn Painter, Senior Occupational Therapist (OT), said:
“It’s important that we support service users with new developments in digital technology for day-to-day needs, as well as using it to inspire them both emotionally and physically through music. We were incredibly grateful for the support of local musicians Rezzonator and ShelterCalm.”
Breaking Down Barriers Award - ‘Deaf Awareness Week’, Grampian Ward, Rampton Hospital: This project included a "voices off" football tournament, challenging hearing patients to play without sound; a charity event with activities like lipreading challenges and "Guess the Sign"; and co-writing a Deaf Awareness presentation to deliver to hearing peers.
Darren Lount, Ward Manager, said:
“It was important as part of this project for the service users to promote deafness not as a disability – it’s actually a different culture.
“It was exciting to see service users sharing the Deaf experience with others from around the hospital and how other service users embraced the experience and what it taught them.”
Excellence in Co-Production Award - Co-Produced Patient CPA / Ward Round Training, Arnold Lodge: This award win relates to our service users participation and contribution to IMPACT’s co- production project to co-produce a training package to help service users develop the skills and confidence to chair their own ward rounds and Care Programme Approach (CPA) meetings. At Arnold Lodge, service users have the opportunity to lead the staff meetings around their care – ward rounds, that cover immediate plans for the next couple of weeks, and care programme approach (CPA) meetings that are held around once every six months.
Andrew Gale, Senior Peer Support Worker, said:
“Arnold Lodge has paved the way with involving patients in their care planning. We’re working to equip patients to chair their CPA and ward round meetings to support them in having a say. We are also developing a ‘train the trainer’ programme for service users to learn about training and empowering others in this level of involvement.”
These annual awards celebrate the large number of service user projects in mental health, learning disability and autism services nationwide, taking notice of all the good that service users have done and what has been made possible at a local level. Other shortlisted projects from the Trust included ‘Never Lose Hope’ and the Patient Forum from Arnold Lodge.
