Shared Governance councils - Winners in multiple categories at PENNA!
Following The Patient Experience Network National Awards (PENNA) ceremony, held on the 28th September 2022, we are delighted to share that 2 Shared Governance projects were announced Winners and Runners Up in multiple categories!
External Ventricular Drains - D10 Shared Governance Council
Runner Up - Strengthening the Foundation Award
Revised Popper Gown Project - F22 Shared Governance Council
Winner - Strengthening the Foundation Award
Runner Up - Measuring, Reporting and Acting & Turning It Around Award
Runner Up - Staff Engagement, Improving Staff Experience and Medical Education for Healthcare Professionals Award
The PEN awards programme recognises best practice in patient experience across all facets of health and social care in the UK. Congratulations to all winners, as well as our other shortlisted projects this year; Maintaining Patient Dignity – The BAME Wig Project.
Further details of all shortlisted projects are included below.
External Ventricular Drains- D10 Shared Governance Council
This project identified the need for education around the clinical management and care of External Ventricular Drains (EVD), following observation of colleagues in practice. As a result, using a simple but innovative method, blue pillowcases were introduced to identify those patients with an EVD. The shared governance council from D10 ward then went on to design and test a Nursing tool in the form of a sticker, which can be attached to the bed.
Through working with colleagues, this piece of work has been sustained in practice, and by sharing their work at Leadership Council, with Divisional colleagues and at the Shared Governance Annual Conference, has been disseminated and transferred to other clinical areas. This has subsequently led to patients not only benefitting from improved clinical care, but also an improved experience for colleagues who are non-clinical.
Revised Popper Gown Project
This project came about when the Chief Nurse encouraged Ward F22 shared governance council to create a gown that was fit for purpose, resulting in a Healthcare Support Worker demonstrating leadership and new thinking to alter the current hospital gown to have poppers on the sleeves, which decreases potential risk factors and improves line care, infection control and patient safety and experience.
The project was focused on and involved high acuity patient areas throughout the pandemic such as critical care, high dependency, level 1 wards and high demand line care areas with PICC lines and Hickman lines. Further research showed the gown was versatile to fit in with other specialities such as Maternity for skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding access, Emergency medicine, Orthopaedics, Healthcare of the Older Person and Ear, Nose and Throat care, making it an innovation transferable Trust wide. The Shared Governance model of clinical leadership was successfully demonstrated with an excellent outcome.
Maintaining Patient Dignity – The BAME Wig Project
The BAME shared governance council recognised the need for providing appropriate wigs for our BAME cancer patients who have experienced alopecia following chemotherapy treatment. Having received feedback about emotional trauma associated with the loss of respect and dignity because of being offered inappropriate wigs, the council wanted to restore patient dignity, thus resulting in this innovative project.
The overall outcome has been the dissemination and the transferring of the project across the Trust to ALL patients suffering from alopecia, with the intention of sharing good practice regionally, nationally and internationally. Initially, the project was for patients from a minority ethnic background but it has now expanded to all patients making it inclusive to all who suffer with alopecia.