Two teams who joined forces to support men with continence problems have been praised for improving patient experience
Two UHDB teams who collaborated on an innovative campaign to support men who have continence problems, have been praised for going above and beyond to improve patient experience at Royal Derby Hospital.
The Trust's Urology Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) team have worked closely with colleagues in Facilities to ensure there are provisions in place for men who need to dispose of continence pads or single-use catheters.
UHDB recently became the second trust in the UK to back the "Boys Need Bins" campaign, which is led by Prostate Cancer UK and aims to ensure all men have access to bins in their toilets to dispose of used products appropriately - with other nearby trusts since reaching out as they look to replicate the initiative.
Sam Muter, Urology Clinical Nurse Specialist, explained how men who are experiencing prostate problems or have had prostate surgery undergo physical and mental changes which can leave them temporarily or permanently incontinent.
She said: "The Boys Need Bins campaign highlighted a lack of facilities for these men in many public places and, when we started looking at the facilities in our men's toilets here, we found that a lot of men who used sanitary pads and catheters were unable to dispose of those properly, which is not something we want them to have to deal with, especially when there is a clear solution."
Sam and her team enlisted the help of Tom Richardson, Facilities Operations Manager, who pledged to support the initiative and worked with the organisation's waste contractor to ensure that his team could segregate waste properly and responsibly if bins were provided in male toilets for disposal of sanitary items.
Tom said: "We wanted to make sure people knew the purpose of the bins, so we shared posters in those areas to encourage men to use them. It is a simple change that can make a massive difference to our patients."
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and one in eight men will be diagnosed with the disease, which increases to one in four for Black men. As many as 60% of those treated with surgery may experience urinary incontinence as a result, which can cause anxiety and worry when managing that when out in public.
Amanda Rawlings, Chief People Officer, presented Tom and the Urology CNS team with a Patient Hero Making a Difference Award in recognition of this impactful work, and thanked them for coming together to find a solution that is improving the experience of patients using our hospitals.
Amanda said: "Patients are at the centre of everything we do at UHDB, but we can only improve the care and experience we provide with dedicated and compassionate people and teams. The Urology team have advocated for their patients and made practical changes to improve the experience for prostate cancer patients. It is so important that we celebrate, reward and recognise when teams work together to tackle an issue and, in turn, make UHDB a better place to receive care."
Since implementing the trial in August 2024, the team has received positive feedback from patients as well as being approached by other trusts locally who wish to find out more about the project.
The bins are currently in place at the King's Treatment Centre and Sam is hopeful that she can inspire other businesses and organisations to adopt the changes and expand the rollout across the whole of UHDB to improve the experiences of prostate cancer patients at UHDB, while paving the way for other Trusts and organisations to be more inclusive of the diverse needs of our local population.
You can find out more about the campaign here >
Would you like to nominate a colleague for a Monthly Making a Difference Award?
If you would like to nominate a colleague or team for a Monthly Making a Difference Award, please let us know.
Our Monthly Making a Difference Awards celebrate those who have shown exceptional care and who have delivered improvements across safety, quality, effectiveness and patient experience and demonstrated the Trust values of Compassion, Openness and Excellence.
There are three monthly Making a Difference Awards categories:
Chief Executive Award – chosen by our CEO
Patient Hero Award – nominated by patients
Excellence Award - you can nominate colleagues and teams
You can nominate in two ways:
· By completing this new e-form which will be sent directly to our awards team >
· By sending a 300 word nomination, along with the name of the team or individual, their job title and where they work, to: uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net