Making a Difference - Award Winners

Our “phenomenal” discharge teams have been selected as the deserved winners of our ‘Team UHDB Award’ after completely transforming the way we safely discharge patients as a Trust.

Nearly quadruple the number of patients are now being discharged from Royal Derby Hospital to before, while double the amount of applicable patients are now also coming through the Discharge Lounge at Queen’s Hospital Burton, compared to before.        

Patients are now spending less time in hospital, with Derby’s Discharge Assessment Unit (DAU) and Burton’s Discharge Lounge both being expanded to help speed up the process of helping get patients back home to their families or onto their next place of care.

Separate Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 areas have also been set up at both units, to help limit the chance of the virus being spread and to put patients at ease.

At Derby, around 60 patients are now being discharged through the DAU every week day and 26 at weekends, while Burton’s Discharge Lounge is now helping twice as many patients, who are spending, on average, less than an hour and a half on the unit before being transferred.  

Lizzie Sidders, DAU senior sister, said: “This award isn’t just for us but it’s for all of the colleagues and partners across the health and social care system. We really couldn’t have achieved the results we have without all of the teams coming together, from the advanced clinical practitioners, to the transformation team, therapies and portering. None of this would’ve been possible without everyone’s buy in and support. It truly has been a team effort and we’re delighted to have seen this recognised with this award.”  

Helen Price, Discharge Lounge sister, said: “It was such a nice surprise to be handed this Making a Difference Award. The team have worked very hard to achieve what we have over the last few months. Lots of colleagues have come together from different areas to help make this happen and create a better discharge experience for our patients. We were originally only a small team but so many colleagues have played their part to make our service even better and it makes me feel so proud to have been part of that.”

These outstanding results wouldn’t have been possible without colleagues from across the health and social care system buying into the Trust’s commitment to improving discharges and working together.

Community assessment nurses, discharge support officers and colleagues in pharmacy, therapy, portering and our partners in Adult Social Care, Derbyshire Community Health Service and Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust have all worked closely together to achieve this goal.  

This has ultimately led to a better hospital experience for UHDB patients, with Chief Executive Gavin Boyle telling both of our discharge teams in Burton and Derby that they’d done “an absolutely incredible job” during what has been an extremely challenging period.   

He said: “This award is just a small way of expressing our thanks and heartfelt appreciation to our fantastic discharge teams. They have completely transformed the way they work for the benefit of our patients and in just a few weeks have solved problems we’ve had with discharge for years.

“It’s a massive understatement to say it’s been a tough few months but there have been some fantastic examples of integration during this time and this is certainly one of them. The way so many colleagues have worked together to improve the discharge process for our patients gives me huge hope for the future as we work in more joined up ways like this.”

Duncan Bedford, Executive Managing Director for Burton, added: “It is seriously unbelievable what we’ve achieved in such a short amount of time. Our discharge teams have done an absolutely fantastic job and, in very difficult circumstances, everyone has really pulled together. It is our patients who have felt the impact of all of this, which is fantastic to see. To see such an improvement to our discharge processes is truly phenomenal and the challenge now is to continue this going forward for the benefit of our patients.”

A Royal Derby Hospital theatre staff member has been selected as our next ‘Chief Executive Award’ winner.

Theatre Nurse, Alison Clark, was nominated by her colleagues for identifying that the material used by Steris to wrap our instrument trays is the same material that is used to make the disposable hoods that our staff use in theatre and ICU. (Hoods are not part of standard PPE but are worn by some theatre staff for specific operations.)

Alison coordinated the project to get hoods made, but she also acted as a mentor, supporting our staff and the many volunteers, including the Duffield WI, throughout the journey of designing and making the hoods.

The sewers in the community are creating up to 900 hoods a week for our staff.

Upon receiving the award, Alison said; “I’d like to dedicate this award too all of the people who have helped us make these surgical hoods, we’d all just like to say a great big thank you from everyone at the hospital.”

Gavin Boyle Chief Executive, mentioned the project in his blog, he said, “It was delightful to meet the team behind this. Every day I’m inspired by the ingenuity and creativity of our people under difficult circumstances. But I was also touched by the good humour and could tell the team had also had quite a bit of fun too in making this happen.”

If you know a UHDB member of staff or team who should be recognised for their exceptional work, you can nominate them for a monthly Making a Difference Award by emailing uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net.

The Occupational Health Team has been recognised for their commitment towards protecting our patients and staff from flu.

The team received the CEO Making a Difference Award, which was presented by Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive at UHDB, after vaccinating 80.73% of our frontline healthcare staff across our five hospital sites.

In his blog, Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive, said; “I would like to thank the Occupational Health Team, peer vaccinators and each and every one of you who have rolled up your sleeves to have the vaccine. Work has already commenced on the flu programme for this year and a national target has been set to vaccinate 90% of frontline healthcare workers. I know I can count on your continued support to help protect yourself, patients and visitors.”

A member of the team said; “We’re absolutely delighted to win this award and be recognised for our work.”

Great work team!                         

If you know a UHDB member of staff or team who should be recognised for their exceptional work, you can nominate them for a monthly Making a Difference Award by emailing uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net.

A team of staff from across the Trust who worked on the Bathroom Conversion Project have been recognised with a monthly staff award for their hard work following their fantastic teamwork and dedication.

Sharon Martin, Executive Chief Operating Officer presented the team with our March “Team UHDB” Making a Difference award.

The team of staff, including some of our colleagues from ISS and Skanksa have worked together to create extra capacity across our wards at the Royal Derby Hospital to support with winter pressures. As part of the Trust’s winter plan, unused bathrooms were converted in to twin bays for patients which has created an additional 20 beds.

Liz Addison, Transformation Nurse said, “This is a really good example of team work; from the clinical staff on the ward, the domestic team to the builders. Everyone has had respect and been very positive despite the disruption.”

The Porters Team at Queen’s Hospital Burton have been recognised for their commitment towards patient care and supporting staff.

The team received the “Team UHDB” Award, which was presented by Duncan Bedford, Executive Managing Director at Burton, after a number of staff across Queen’s Hospital Burton nominated them for going above and beyond at all times.

One of the nominations read; “The porters are cheerful and always help put our patients at ease. The team work extremely hard and nothing is ever too much trouble for them – we would be lost without their support! Every porter at QHB deserves this recognition and a big thank you from us all!”

A member of the team said; “We’re absolutely delighted to win this award. It’s great to know that we can offer our patients some simple comfort and reassurance when visiting our hospital.”

Great work team!                         

If you know a UHDB member of staff or team who should be recognised for their exceptional work, you can nominate them for a monthly Making a Difference Award by emailing uhdb.employeeawards@nhs.net.