Two ELFT Quality Improvement Projects Shortlisted for the HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2021

 28th June 2021

The Trust is happy to announce that City & Hackney Mental Health and the Forensics Services have both been shortlisted at the 2021 HSJ (Health Services Journal) Patient Safety Awards, for their quality improvement work.

Shortlisted for the Covid-19 Infection Prevention and Control Award, City & Hackney pioneered Covid secure bundles to identify covid risks on wards and help staff feel safer. This work was in response to concerns about personal safety regarding covid within inpatient mental health wards. This work allowed staff to air concerns in a psychologically safe place and start new processes to improve safety. As a result, staff reported that they felt much safer and more secure, reducing anxiety for them and their families.  

The Forensics Service has been shortlisted for the Quality Improvement Initiative of the Year Award, for their improvement project focusing on staff and inpatient sexual safety. Through this, they developed a deep understanding of sexual safety incidents and developed a tiered system of targeted support for those who are affected. One ward experienced a 92% reduction in weekly sexual safety incidents.  

This recognition is well deserved for both of these projects, despite the tough competition. The improvement projects of both services have been selected based on their ambition, visionary spirit and the demonstrable positive impact that they have had on service user and staff experiences within the health and social care sector.  

The judging panel is made up of a diverse range of highly influential figures within the healthcare community including Sue Smith OBE (Executive Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, University Hospitals Morecambe Bay FT), Rachel Power (Chief Executive, The Patients Association) and Dr Hester Wain (Head of Patient Safety Policy, NHS England and NHS Improvement). 

Tonderai Kasambira, Head of Nursing and Associate Clinical Director of Safety and Security in the Forensics Service comments, “[This is] excellent news, well done to the team and thank you to the QI team for your support. We will eagerly wait in anticipation.”  

Lucy Goodey, Garner Ward Manager in City & Hackney, comments, “What wonderful news, it is lovely for the team to be acknowledged for their efforts especially after the challenges of the past year. We are so grateful for how the project has been received. We look forward to hearing the outcome.”

Andy Cruikshank, Director of Nursing at East London NHS Foundation Trust comments,

“Safety around infection prevention and control practice has never been more important. The great thing about this work is that it focuses attention on the routines that can prevent the spread of Covid, keeping staff and service users aware of risks. Safety requires teamwork and this is more important now than ever, to ensure we can contain and limit any future spread of Covid in our services and keep people safe from infection. The teams have done an amazing job in getting this work underway and incorporating learning into daily business. 

I am delighted that the work of improving sexual safety within our services has been shortlisted. This topic is one of the most important and challenging for our service users and staff to manage well. Feeling and being safe in our services is one of our most important aims. This work goes a long way to helping us understand how we can do this.”

 

The full list of finalists for the 2021 HSJ Patient Safety Awards can be found here. 

Winners will be selected ahead of the ceremony, which will take place as part of the Patient Safety Congress and Awards in Manchester in September 2021.