2011
Department of Health names audiology service as its top team for 2010/11
The runners up had equally impressive projects, concerning the following areas:
- Phlebotomy Service Appointment System
- Optimising the Care of Vulnerable Adults at Noble's Hospital
- Live Well Stay Well
The ceremony was opened by Minister for Health, David Anderson MHK, who went on to say,
'It is a magnificent achievement for our Audiology team to have won this award, especially when you take into consideration the stiff competition from our three runners up. The Top Team Award has been running for 6 years, and this is the first final to be held since I became Health Minister in April 2010. It's a real pleasure to see the hard work and dedication of our staff recognised in this way. All of the teams short-listed demonstrate the dedication and commitment the Department has to continually making our services better. Congratulations to the winners, and I hope this will spur them on to even greater heights.'
Following a written submission from a number of teams in December 2010, 4 were shortlisted for the final which involved each team delivering a 20 minute presentation to impress judges, Sue Gee, Managing Director of TLC Solutions; Richard Butt, Editor of Isle of Man Newspapers; and George Quayle, Chief Executive of Age Concern Isle of Man.
Project Lead, Dariel Sayle, said:
'The team was ecstatic to win the Top Team Award. The whole year the team worked together was a really positive time and the Audiology team has developed and grown as a consequence of the restructure. The Top Team initiative is a really uplifting experience as it helps teams to reflect on their achievements. We had a wonderful day and would like to pass on out thanks to the organisers and the panel of judges.'
The presentations detailed the project work the teams have done over the past year and how this had benefited the Department's services and the people of the Isle of Man.
'I am thrilled to have the opportunity to meet these teams and ensure that their hard work receives the recognition they rightly deserve. It gives me great pride to present this Top Team Award to the Noble’s Hospital Audiology Department, but all the teams are 'Top Teams' in their own right. These projects of course represent only a fraction of similar work going on across the Department and the large number of our staff who go the extra mile to innovate and deliver excellent service every day.'
Phlebotomy Service Appointment System
However, in response to health and safety, capacity and efficiency issues which reached crisis point in October 2009, the project was accelerated and achieved within 6 months. The challenges of such a sudden change in practice were met by a motivated multi-professional team, all sharing common goals to ensure the quality and safety of a service to both patients and staff.
Evaluation to date has shown that a service that had become unsustainable has become one in which both in-patients and outpatients are seen in a timely, safe manner.
And your team is .... Elizabeth Sawyer, Daz Sayle, Barbara Scott, Bev Critchlow, Tony Jones, Lesley Jones, Tony McMaster and Lynne Erdbeer
Optimising the Care of Vulnerable Adults at Noble's Hospital
No one likes being admitted to hospital! Even health care professionals would prefer to avoid it; but there are some individuals for whom a hospital admission is particularly worrying. Research has shown that there are some groups in society who, for a variety of reasons, are under-represented, have more difficulty in making their voices heard, are less able to complain about sub-optimal care and for whom support groups are viewed as less glamorous than high profile groups such as neonatology services or cancer services. Central to this group of under-represented individuals are older people and patients with learning disabilities and/or enduring mental health problems being cared for in a general hospital setting. Our initiative is based on partnership working between both health care professionals and patient representatives and seeks to ensure that, as far as the provision of health care at Noble's Hospital is concerned, the voices of these vulnerable patients are both heard and understood. Society can be judged by how well it protects the more vulnerable members within its ranks. We aim to publish our work in professional journals and demonstrate how Noble's Hospital seeks to protect the more vulnerable in society. We believe that this is an ideal shared by Manx society as a whole and we are proud to be shortlisted for our initiative for the Top Team award of 2010/2011.
And your team is... Shelagh Leonard, Jayne Kerruish, Sue Christie, Elaine Haynes, Christen Gawne, Ann McLellan, Cathy Quine, Sandra Pressley and Penny Creighton
Live Well Stay Well
The Live Well Stay Well Project delivers courses to patients with long term health conditions, designed to help provide them with tools and skills to be able to manage their condition, and therefore lives, more positively. Based on an international programme and commonly known as the Expert Patients Programme in the UK, volunteer leaders who themselves have a long term condition deliver courses to patients, with support from health professionals. These volunteers are trained, accredited and monitored to ensure quality, maintenance of skills and knowledge. Courses must also be accredited and licensed by Stanford University in order that quality is maintained.
Approximately 40 patients have completed the course to date, with results exceeding UK statistics with an overwhelming majority of patients reporting significant benefits of attending. A recent winner of the Isle of Man Newspapers Award for Excellence - The Thomas Millar Award for Corporate and Social Responsibility, the project also signifies a new way of working: health professionals and patients working in true partnership to provide a service.
The project now plans to continue but also to expand, with plans to deliver courses within the Isle of Man Prison, research the viability of a similar course designed for carers, and recruit more volunteer leaders.
And your team is.... Jenny Brown, Ann Corkill, Norman Kneen, Fiona Baxter, Gill Wilson, Maureen Barrett and Ian Quayle.
