Queen's Hospital Burton trio receive prestigious national Chief Nursing Officer award
A team whose quality improvement project has "enriched the lives of patients and staff" by helping reduce patient falls at Queen's Hospital Burton (QHB) have been recognised with a prestigious national Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Silver Award.
Student Nursing Associate Trina Starmer, Healthcare Support Worker Elaine Oughton and Housekeeper Jo Brown have collaborated to great effect in the 'Tidy Bed Spaces Project' within the elderly medicine unit at QHB - and they were together to receive their CNO Award medals > from University Hospitals Derby and Burton (UHDB) Executive Chief Nurse Garry Marsh, on behalf of the Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England, Duncan Burton.
The 'Tidy Bed Spaces Project' aims to enhance safety and comfort older people during their care at QHB by meticulously organising and maintaining bed spaces, with the initiative not only improving how the environment looks and functions, but also aiming to have a measurable reduction in patient falls, which is a critical aspect in elderly care, by removing hazards around a patient's bed.
Reflecting on the award, Jo - a Housekeeper on Ward 7 who provides support to patients, visitors and colleagues but is not responsible for providing direct patient care - believes the team's collaborative approach is what has made the difference. She said: "Through my role, I bring a different perspective and have been given a place to share my ideas and contribute to positive changes. Being recognised in this way feels very special for all of us. Sometimes it is the simplest things that can make the biggest impact."
Trina added: "Patient safety was the driver for our improvement project because providing good care and a good experience for our patients is important to us. Our ward is 'care for the elderly', so our patients have a higher risk of falling. When patients come into hospital, family and friends often bring in suitcases and lots of items which can create hazards around a patient's bedspace, so this felt like the right thing to focus our improvement on.
"This project has really allowed those of us closest to the challenge to work together and focus on setting a standard for a tidy bedspace, so that everyone working on the ward has a clear set of rules to follow, so we can reduce the risk of patient falls. It has been a real team effort involving our nursing workforce, medics and patients."
This collaboration was clear in the way Healthcare Support Worker Elaine took photos of optimal bedspaces to share the visual expectation with colleagues, so they could discuss it and make further improvements, while Trina actively involved patients within the project by asking their opinions on optimum bedspaces and fed their answers back into the project plan.
Garry Marsh, UHDB Executive Chief Nurse, said: "This award is much deserved recognition for a piece of work that embodies so many of our Trust values. Trina, Elaine, Jo and the team around them have come together to show a real Always Improving mindset, providing solutions that have led to significant advancements in patient care and safety - all while involving the patients directly in the project in a truly caring and compassionate way.
"The Chief Nursing Officer Award is given out for examples of outstanding contributions made by nurses, healthcare support workers and associated colleagues who consistently demonstrate the NHS values in their everyday roles, and it is clear that Trina, Elaine and Jo are doing exactly that. I would like to say thank you on behalf of the whole UHDB community for the dedication you have shown and the impact you are making."
Are you inspired by the difference Trina, Elaine and Jo are making? The best ideas often start with identifying an opportunity, a frustration, something that you feel passionate about and want to make better. Our Always Improving hub is now live on Net-i > and has some tools and resources that can help you to test improvements that matter to you, your colleagues and your patients.
