News

News

Success for our teams at national Patient Experience Awards

Receiving an award

patient experience team

We are delighted to be celebrating four successes at a prestigious national competition.

The Patient Experience Network National Awards (PENNA) are a national awards programme which recognise best practice in health and social care organisations that champion and cater for the needs of their patients.

The awards and conference, on Thursday 1 March, brought together the best from across health and social care for a day-long networking event and exhibition. It enabled our staff to share experience, ideas and best practice. The event culminated in the awards for those judged to be outstanding in their field.

We won in the category of “Support for Caregivers, Friends and Family” for the YouTube video "Getting to Know Us”. It's a film for patients that was created by two of our patients, Sara and Mairead, with the help of staff from our Trust’s cancer services and medical photography, aimed at helping cancer patients and their families feel more at ease on their first visit to our cancer centre by taking away some of the stress of the unknown. Sara and Mairead lead viewers through the department as they highlight the key areas and explain some of the procedures. In an additional film the pair talk frankly about what helped them during their treatment and afterwards.

We also won an award for our work to help support families after a bereavement. Last year we opened the Daisy Centre at Queen’s hospital. It is a new space which brings together registrars, bereavement officers and chaplains in one calm setting.

Our work with critical care patients at the end of their lives was acknowledged. We were runners up in the category “Partnership Working to Improve the Experience”.  An innovative partnership has seen our Trust working with local GPs, district nurses and St Francis Hospice to pull together guidelines and a way of working so that, with the right care and support, some patients can return home to die if they choose.

And our Patient Partner, Sara Turle, won the award for Best Networker.

Wendy Matthews, Deputy Chief Nurse, said: “I'm so proud of all the teams that represented our Trust. It’s fantastic that our Trust is becoming known as one that takes patient experience very seriously. We are committed to doing everything we can to make life easier for our patients and their families.

These projects have showcased our innovation and commitment and are a great indication of how we as a Trust are becoming more focused on patient care all the time. While we can always improve, I think this shows we are moving in the right direction.”

Sara Turle, Patient Partner, said: “Since our film had its premiere in September, it has been incredibly heartwarming to see how patients, their families and health partners have responded. Starting on a course of treatment for cancer can be a really frightening and overwhelming experience. Having gone through it ourselves, Mairead and I just wanted to try and make a difference for others. The culture of patient partnership in our Trust undoubtedly helped with the making of the film and the fact it has won reinforces the value of such partnerships. It has truly been a labour of love for each and every one of us and we are extremely grateful for this national award.”

Rev Philip Wright, Lead Chaplain, said: “We do our very best to provide a caring, personal and compassionate service for those who have sadly had a relative or loved one die in our hospitals.

The opening of the Daisy Centre was a really positive step forward.  It is an attempt to make life at the hardest of times just a bit easier.

We’ve had a very positive response from families since it opened.  This is the most important thing, but it is also nice to get national recognition as well.”

Was this page useful?

Was this page useful?
Rating

We've placed cookies on your computer which helps to improve you experience on our website. You can read our cookie policy, otherwise we will assume that you're ok to continue.

Please choose a setting: