Double delight for UHDB as ‘Redirooms’ and Respiratory team shortlisted for national awards
The lengths that UHDB teams have gone to during the pandemic to limit the spread of Covid-19 and to provide outstanding care to patients with other respiratory conditions has been recognised on a national scale.
UHDB has been shortlisted for two awards at the Nursing Times Awards – for two separate projects that have helped reduce the spread of Covid-19 in our hospitals and allowed some patients with pneumonia to go home sooner than before.
The Trust’s Respiratory Infections team have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to support patients with pneumonia – both during their hospital stay and following discharge – whilst elsewhere, a number of UHDB teams have worked together to introduce the use of isolation pods to protect people from Covid-19.
Known as ‘Redirooms’, the pop-up pods have been in use in different assessment areas across Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton since last winter and allow for patients who are suspected of Covid-19 to be separated from others until test results are known.
This innovative move has helped to reduce Covid-19 outbreaks across hospitals, improved patient experience and staff confidence by minimising the chance of them being exposed to the virus, and most importantly, kept patients and colleagues safe.
Helen Forrest, Head of Infection Prevention and Control at UHDB, said: “Limiting the spread of Covid-19 in our hospitals so that we can continue to keep people safe has been central to everything that we’ve done since the start of the pandemic. By allowing us to temporarily separate patients who are suspected of having the virus from others, the Redirooms have completely transformed our ability to manage and reduce Covid-19 transmission risk within the Trust.
“We’re extremely proud to have been able to introduce this innovative solution for the benefit of our patients and it’s fantastic to see that all of the hard work and dedication of our teams – from Infection Prevention and Control, to Acute Medicine, to Estates and Operations – has been recognised by this award shortlisting.”
UHDB’s Respiratory Infections team have been shortlisted for the ‘Respiratory Nursing Award’, in recognition for providing an outstanding support service for patients with pneumonia that has both helped reduce patients’ average length of stay in hospital and readmission rates too.
Set up in 2017 and comprised of only a handful of colleagues, the service was the first in the country to offer supported discharges for pneumonia patients to help them get home sooner.
These colleagues have also shown immense commitment to their patients throughout the pandemic by providing a seven-day phone line support service for patients that has helped improve patient experience at a time when it was needed most.
Sonia Greenwood, Lead Asthma Nurse Specialist, said: “The amount of effort and the commitment that this team of nurses have shown throughout the pandemic has been absolutely phenomenal, and I couldn’t be prouder. A few of the team have actually had Covid-19 themselves and had to isolate at home but everyone has just kept on going and have worked so hard.
“For obvious reasons, the pandemic has been a scary time for people with respiratory conditions like pneumonia, so being able to provide them with reassurance over the phone has been so important to these patients. I couldn’t be happier for the team to see them shortlisted for this award – nobody could be more deserving.”
