And the winner was…
North East Assisted Ventilation Service
This region-wide specialist team provides a range of services to a diverse patient group including long-term assisted ventilatory support, a cough assessment and therapy service, secretion management and high flow therapy at home.
Whether that’s providing support and training on ventilator devices to assist both acute covid responses and the newly established respiratory support unit at the RVI or developing a physiotherapy-led cough clinic to support long-term neurological patients, they have a long and impressive track record of service improvement.
On discovery that the rapid uptake of home ventilation in COPD was outstripping current clinic capacity, the team set up a nurse-led HOT-home mechanical ventilation clinic which has reduced patient waiting times for review and starting treatment, allowing earlier discharge home freeing up vital respiratory beds and preventing readmission.
And recognising the need for secretion management clinics, the team also commenced Botox clinic for excess salivation, leading to a joint bid for a HTA trial to define which part of the patient pathway Botox should be considered.
Other improvements include developing new MDT pathways, the region’s first high flow therapy at home service (allowing patients with severe respiratory disease to go home rather than spend their last few weeks of life in hospital) and providing support for patients on ventilation who require a PEG to be inserted.
NEAVS is truly a team that puts the patient at the forefront of everything they do. Congratulations!
Finalists – Alcohol Care Team
In partnership with Cumbria, Northumbria and Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, the Alcohol Care Team provides an elective alcohol detoxification programme and support to all patients in withdrawal in an emergency admission.
Working across sites, they care for some of the most vulnerable and marginalised patients in the society (both health and social vulnerability), providing counselling on diagnosis, as well as support to patients with advanced liver disease and their families, including in the community.
The team has worked hard to improve service provision and treatment pathways beyond recognition and their portfolio now covers five ‘arms’ including extending support to patients at increasing risk to alcohol dependence and end of life care for advanced liver disease.
In the six months since March 2023, the team made 2,000 contacts including 1,250 new assessments and in April, following a review, received positive feedback from ACTION@rcgp.uk including: ‘Highly thought of and a dedicated, passionate team’ ‘accessible and visible within the hospital’ ‘fantastic, well-embedded education programme, ‘impressive pathways.’
Clearly, a team with patients at their heart.
Finalists – Stroke Nurse Practitioners
Operating around the clock, this team’s passion for their work is inspiring and their dedication, commitment, and exceptional service has made a significant impact on stroke care across the North
East and North Cumbria.
They ensure patients receive immediate and continuous care throughout the year and their tireless efforts in admissions, emergency treatment, and support have undoubtedly saved numerous lives and improved outcomes.
The team consistently rank as the top performing stroke unit in the region and have maintained a UK ‘top three’ position in the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme. Research active, our stroke nurse practitioners have also played a pivotal role in advancing treatment options and care, integrating themselves within the stroke research team.
One notable achievement is their collaboration with the ambulance service to trial video triage, which hopes to revolutionise the way stroke patients are admitted, assessed and treated directly on the stroke unit. The extent of their role impacts not just on their department but across the wider trust and further afield.
They are an exemplary team and a beacon of excellence.
Finalists – Family Support Team / Children’s Community Nursing Team
This family’s involvement with the children’s community nursing team – led by senior sister Sarah McKean – began soon after their birth of their daughter in 2020 during the pandemic.
Born with a congenital heart defect, they knew at some early stage she would need a heart operation and Sarah was assigned to them to monitor baby’s development and growth as well as providing helpful advice, reassurance and navigate any potential problems at a time when people had very limited contact with the outside world.
Sadly, the heart repair surgery did not go to plan and their baby ended up needing additional neurosurgery and ECMO life support, so was on a cocktail of drugs and needed feeding through a tube when they finally went home from hospital.
As parents, it was an exhausting and worrying time both physically and mentally in caring for their child, and Sarah, her team, and the family support team visited weekly (and sometimes more frequently) to look after both parents and daughter, providing much needed respite care and support when necessary.
“Sarah has been with us from the beginning and despite the long-term medical issues we continue to face, her team was there to support our family through the initial stormy years of our daughter’s life. The only way we could show our appreciation was to give a Clap for Carers – it’s not enough – they deserve recognition for their excellence.”
Finalists – Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) Team
Unique and multi-professional, the ILD team supports patients with Interstitial Lung Disease, a group of often severe, progressive, and fatal lung diseases, and over the last decade have built a regional service which has grown ten-fold.
From developing nurse-led clinics and embracing telemedicine, to establishing daycase services, novel rapid access palliative care clinics and pharmacy-delivered clinics, they continue to adapt and innovate with patients very much at the heart of everything they do.
Their model and approach have been shared through a collaboration of clinicians, patients and charities – #OneVoiceILD – where team members are contributing to workstreams and the development of an emergent national clinical care pathway.
The focus of all team members has been – and continues to be – uniquely patient centred and bespoke care, going above and beyond to support people and their families affected by this devastating group of diseases and ensuring healthcare inequalities are addressed through partnership working.
