The Newcastle Hospitals is delighted to have once again been recognised by the British Journal of Nursing Awards with a total of three shortlistings.
These Awards are a showcase of nursing excellence, highlighting the critical contribution that nurses make to healthcare and represent a fantastic opportunity to gain the recognition that hard work and dedication so richly deserves.
Our Finalists have been recognised for their dedication towards ensuring that every patient we care for receives harm free care wherever possible, and in particular for their innovative approaches towards supporting colleagues working under pressure in one of the largest of most complex NHS organisations in England as they strive to provide safe, high quality care.
Infection Control Nurse of the Year
Specialist Nurses Amy Griffiths and Pasqua Fitzgibbon have been shortlisted for their multi-faceted, mobile education and quality improvement approaches across busy clinical areas to help keep their colleagues up to date on infection prevention and control initiatives.
All staff at the Newcastle Hospitals know that harm free care is key priority for the Trust and that there is a wide range of learning and development opportunities to support them to hear about the latest developments. However, due to a range of pressures staff were finding it extremely difficult to leave clinical areas to attend bespoke sessions.
Amy and Pasqua are both experienced nurses who were seconded to Newcastle’s Infection Prevention and Control’s nursing team and Amy to the Newcastle Specialist Continence Service to support the delivery of education, training and quality improvement.
Amy has worked in urology for many years and was seconded as a Nurse Specialist for UTI/CAUTI (urinary tract infections and catheter acquired urinary tract infections) Harm Free Care.
Pasqua has worked in anaesthesia and laser therapy – she was seconded as Nurse Specialist for IV (intravenous) and Lines Harm Free Care.
Proactive and adaptable approach
As they both have backgrounds in clinical nursing they understood the challenges the staff were facing so they came up with a proactive and adaptable approach to carrying out targeted education.
Pasqua explains their approach “We decided to be present and visible on the clinical areas, conducting clinical walk arounds, surveillance and audit work to gain insight into current practice and identify areas that would benefit from input from specialist services.
“The approach was very much supportive and we constantly sought staff feedback from the education sessions to measure effectiveness of what we were doing.”
Amy adds “Staff engagement and a multi-disciplinary approach to harm free care was very important to us as we recognise the value of this in improving the care of our patients. We wanted to find ways to maximise impact and share learning therefore we joined together with other nurse specialists working in different areas to further support our workforce.
“We also adopted a variety of education styles to coincide with the rising pressures of the healthcare environment which included drop in sessions and targeted walk arounds as well as our ‘Trolley Dashes’ which have since been adopted Trust-wide by other services.”
“It is very visual and provides key updates around particular aspects of harm free care, the dash sessions are very short and snappy and do not require staff to leave to clinical areas” continues Pasqua.
“Not only that but because you are with them in their working environment, staff feel able to ask questions whilst with their patients and so receive advice and support there and then. This approach makes the learning aspect much more meaningful and more likely to be shared with peers.”
Positive outcomes and feedback
During the period of the education sessions Amy and Pasqua saw:
- 1517 staff educated across multiple directorates between February – December 2022​
- Widespread advertisement of education sessions increasing staff engagement and attendance
- Positive feedback from education sessions
- Staff networking / collaborative planning for further education
Their approach has received fantastic feedback and proved easy to replicate that colleagues in other areas have adapted their educational approach and it is hoped that it will continue to be shared and developed further across the Trust.
The Harm Free Care Nurse Specialist roles have proven to be very successful, and we are delighted that the posts have now been made substantive within the trust.
Of their shortlisting Amy says “I was in total shock when we found out. I feel so honoured for our work to be recognised in this way, and in such a short space of time – 12 to 15 months.
“We have achieved so much during those months and are very excited to build upon this approach to further improve the care of our patients. We’ve really enjoyed engaging with staff of all levels during this project and the enthusiasm of staff across the organisation has been very humbling.”
Pasqua adds: “We’re absolutely delighted – it has been such a fantastic approach to harm free care and we know the whole concept works because it really has reduced infection rates and we would hope this will continue. The award ceremony takes place as the secondment comes to an end so it’s a fantastic way to mark the successful completion of the project.”
Gill Lishman, Matron for Infection Prevention and Control says: “I am delighted that the work of both Pasqua and Amy has been recognised.
“The work of the IPC and HFC initiatives is pivotal to improving patient care and their contribution to this has been immense.”
Cheryl Teasdale is Associate Director of Nursing for Clinical Standards and Community Services. She says “The proactive and innovative work that Sarah, Pasqua and Amy have undertaken has been fantastic. At a challenging time in terms of staffing, accessibility to training and the attainment of both knowledge and skills, delivering education and support within clinical areas has increased accessibility for staff which has led to an increase in knowledge and skills in community settings, wards and departments.
“These projects have greatly contributed to our plight to deliver harm free, high quality care to our patients. I am delighted that these three projects have been recognised and shortlisted for the awards which are well deserved – good luck to our Finalists.”
Of the shortlistings Jackie Rees, Nurse Consultant for Continence (Adults) says: “The Newcastle Specialist Continence Service is absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for two quality improvement projects for the category of Continence Nurse of the Year and another for Infection Control Nurse of the Year at the forthcoming British Journal of Nursing 2023 awards”.
Good luck!
The British Journal of Nursing Awards Ceremony is being held on Friday 24th March – we wish all our Finalists the very best of luck!
