Positivity and resilience

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Amazing nominations this time from Kingston, Northampton, Wales, Dorset and Torbay and South Devon.  To read the full stories go to the ESTEEM gallery.

Sarah Thompson, principal speech and language therapist at Kingston Hospital Foundation Trust, always puts her team first, supporting them professionally and personally, and cultivated a light and happy atmosphere at work. During the pandemic, she has ensured the team were safe, supported and fully staffed despite going through difficult circumstances herself.

Caroline Hopper and the physiotherapy department at Kingston Hospital moved into critical care and inpatient wards while a sub team worked on calling up urgent patients from fracture clinics to ensure excellent patient care. They looked after staff wellbeing and embraced new ways of working including Attend Anywhere Appointments: an amazing time of true team spirit and team working.

Andrea O’Connell and the Microbiology Team, Northampton General Hospital have risen to the challenge by working hard to set up, validate and deliver Covid-19 testing on a 24/7 basis. They have procured new equipment such as an automated extraction platform and new analysers to significantly increase testing capacity.

Liz Page and the Radiography Team at Northampton General Hospital have pulled together on the frontline to provide a rapid imaging service for all patients during this pandemic. Often working in difficult areas such as intensive care and the emergency department, they have provided a seamless and timely service, enabling good patient care by the clinical teams.

Rachel Westwood and the Pharmacy Team at Northampton General Hospital have provided a fantastic service, especially for Covid-19 patients. They have been involved in the various trails such as the Recovery Trial and have enabled the hospital to be a high recruiting site to these trails. They are working in difficult areas yet continue to offer a high-quality service.

Lynda Ferron and the Therapies Team at Northampton General Hospital have been actively involved in all acute areas such as intensive care as well as the Covid positive wards, enabling treatments such as proning as well as more intensive physiotherapy for recovering patients. They have set up 7-day working and are playing a vital role in the new Frailty unit. This is in addition to their regular work with stroke and elderly care patients.

Supporting Kidney Patients across Wales during COVID 19 – Working Group comprises representatives from Paul Popham Renal Fund, Kidney Wales, Kidney Care UK, All Wales Health and Wellbeing Reference Group, Welsh Renal Clinical Network, Wales Kidney Research Unit.

As the impact of the pandemic on patients reliant on unit-based dialysis became clear, they recognised the need to communicate with them calmly and consistently. Not all patients are comfortable with social media, so a small team developed informative and reassuring newsletters, distributed by unit managers for patients to read whilst on dialysis and to take home.

Nicola Davidson and the dysphagia training team at Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust had to change their ways of working when COVID hit and classroom teaching was not possible. They developed a workbook and a virtual workshop. They have sent out over 100 workbooks and shared this with other NHS trusts to ensure that dysphagia training remains well managed in healthcare.

Lisa Neale, support worker, intermediate care, Torbay and South Devon Trust got to work supporting crisis visits, helping a gentleman who had fallen in the middle of the road,  giving general support to the team and always having  a positive attitude towards working during the pandemic.

Sarah Davies and children’s occupational therapy, Devon Wide Children and Family Health, Torbay and South Devon have developed online resources and videos for parents of children with sensory needs, offering sensory information, strategies and advice which improves access to support while  face to face contact is restricted. Children who are struggling with sensory processing can be better understood and supported by those around them.

Showing positivity and resilience throughout, Carrie Clarke and the learning disabilities physio team in Dorset Healthcare had transferable skills valuable to the Dorset stroke and neuro rehab service. Not only was it a different model of care but they also had to adapt to flexible shift patterns, different computer systems and linking with 3 hospital sites. Colleagues ensured that the LD service continued while others were redeployed.

Keep the nominations coming! Go to https://ahawards,co,uk/esteem/

 

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