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West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust celebrates its 'Shining Lights'
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust recently held its annual ‘Shining Lights’ staff awards, celebrating the achievements of staff over the past year. With a record 220 nominations received from hospital staff and the public, the awards were given to individuals or teams who have shown particularly outstanding dedication and excellence in the care of their patients, or the initiative to drive through service improvements in the hospital or out in the community.
The awards were held in a transformed Time Out, ordinarily the hospital’s staff restaurant. In total 17 awards were up for grabs, including employee of the year, clinical team of the year, inspirational leadership, rising star, My WiSH Charity star and volunteer of the year.
Charge nurse Will Ferreira was crowned employee of the year following his drive of an innovative project to improve patient safety and raise awareness of ways staff can help minimise the chance of patients developing pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers develop when an area of skin is put under pressure, such as from prolonged bed rest. They can become so severe that they lead to open wounds.
Frail, older patients who find it difficult to move by themselves and have fragile skin are particularly at risk, as are people who have recently had surgery or are very overweight or underweight.
Colleagues said of Will: “Will has shown great enthusiasm when educating ward staff to recognise and care for patients with pressure ulcers. He really is someone to aspire to.”
Upon receiving the award, Will said: “It’s still an ongoing project but is very exciting. I’m educating teams to make sure they know about pressure ulcers, how to prevent them and what the implications are of them happening. It’s having a positive impact on the wards because we have drastically reduced the number of hospital acquired pressure ulcers and improved the way we detect community acquired pressure ulcers, so overall we are providing a better experience for our patients.”
The clinical team of the year went to the community diabetes nurse team, who are supporting practice nurses working in GP surgeries to provide the most up-to-date advice and treatment choices for people with diabetes. As a result of the hard work and dedication of those involved in the partnership, West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group has risen from 209th to 81st in the country for the support given to patients with diabetes in just two years.
Roger Quince, chairman of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We were delighted to receive over 220 entries this year, more than ever before, which reflects the high quality work taking place at the Trust every single day. Our categories cover all areas of the Trust, including our volunteers, clinical and non-clinical areas and community services. The high standard of entries meant that our judging panel found it difficult to pick just three finalists for each category.
“However, reading through each nomination was a real privilege, as each member of staff showed a real commitment to improving the experience of patients at our hospital. My congratulations go to everyone who was nominated, who set a great example to us all.”
View the 2017 Shining lights magazine
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