This award is an opportunity for patients, families, visitors and Trust colleagues to say ‘thank you – you made a difference’ to a member of staff or a team for anything (however small!) that helped make their experience of our services better.

Shine a Light Award Winner – March 

Luton District Nurses and evening and night teams

The Luton District Nurses and evening and night teams were nominated by Linda Sharkey after receiving praise from Ruth Hammond from the Macmillan and Palliative Care Service.

They were nominated for the dedication and excellent support they provided to a very complex patient discharged from hospice for End of Life Care.  There were many complex issues taking on an enormous amount of the DN's time having an obvious impact on the rest of the nursing team and the DN service as a whole. The service took on the care with concern but willingly to enable the patient to be cared for and die in his preferred place of care and with his family around him. The night sitting service also did an excellent job, often a challenging situation as the house was a busy often noisy and full home with all age groups  (and cats and dogs!) staying in the family home especially around the Christmas period. They were an amazing supportive and loving family.

The DN team worked very closely with the Specialist Palliative Care Service with advice and support from the nursing and medical team. There was a real team spirit and collaborative nursing approach across all the teams.

Ruth said: “I have always been very proud and privileged to work with all the Luton DN team in and out of hours but never more so than during the past four to six weeks.”

Well done to all those involved.

Other nominations for March include:

Sarah Bunn, Laura Leonce and Joanne Robertson, Community Leads, Luton Community Unit Randstad Court

Linda Sharkey nominated these three nurses for stepping into the breach to support a large change management programme to further develop the integrated nursing teams in Luton. Their passion and commitment as well as technical skills are supporting improved morale, patient outcomes, reporting and development of new ways of working. They took a risk in moving from their well known roles into either secondments or cross service management and new approach for Luton. It’s impressive to watch them grow and develop into nurse leaders, the senior management team are very grateful for their support.

Sally Spencer, Community Matron, Luton Community Unit Randstad Court

Sally was commended by Linda Sharkey for showing amazing resilience in recent months. She was called to a coroner’s court at short notice despite the fact that she wasn’t involved in the patients care. However, her impressive example of professional standards gave rise to considerable praise from the CCS Barrister; she was calm, collected and showed compassion and consideration of the needs of the family whilst acting with significant gravitas. This one example however is not unexpected, her calm and measured approach is well respected in the teams, and she can always be relied upon to be supportive and enabling. An example to the teams and individuals around her.

Hilary Pearmain & the Pharmacy Advisor Team, Lead Pharmacist & Pharmacy Advisors, Luton Community Unit

Linda Sharkey nominated this small but very able team who work together to ensure that clinicians, managers, patients and their carers have the very best support to mitigate the risks in the use of medicines. Hilary is stirling in her support clinically to the management team and in supporting nurse prescribers. The Pharmacy Advisors are invaluable in mitigating clinical risks by reviewing discharged patients quickly in their own homes to reduce errors and remove duplicate medicines. They recognise over prescribing, support cost improvements and work closely with the clinical teams to improve their understanding of medicine management. Nursing and residential homes locally would be lost without their skills and knowledge.

Lisa Milner and Liz Sturgeon, PALS and Patient Experience Assistant and Housekeeper, Holly Ward

Lisa and Liz were nominated by Wendy Endersby for working together to ensure Holly ward, child and teenager patients and their parents have an opportunity to give feedback about their care and treatment. Surveys have been designed with child and teenager input so they can understand them. The Friends and Family Test question has been adapted as agreed with NHS England to meet the needs of the children and teenagers. All feedback is displayed in the centre of the ward along with comments and suggestions and the learning and actions taken to address any issues raised for improvement in a “you said we did” display. The display is very professional and colourful. This shows the team are truly demonstrating they understand the patient experience feedback cycle.

Gloria Luwemba, Community Health Services Pharmacist, Clinical Medicines Team

Ann Darvill nominated Gloria for rising to the challenge of supporting the new HIV service in Peterborough through difficult times for the service. She has at all times provided a professional service, even though the conditions were less than ideal (working in confined conditions at Peterborough City Hospital for several weeks before moving over to Kings Chambers). She has cancelled her own annual leave in order to maintain this service because there was no-one else with the knowledge to do so. Her colleagues at the Intermediate Care Unit also deserve a mention because they have held the service together there in her absence without anyone to cover her.

Clare Varley, Health Visitor, York St HV team, Cambridge

Clare was nominated by one of her families who wanted to express their thanks for the fantastic service they have received from the Health Visiting Team, and in particular from Clare Varley. They were fortunate enough to have Clare assigned to them from the start, following their discharge from the midwives care, and she has been a constant source of sensible support during their baby's first year. They had a lot of issues with breastfeeding at the start and during that, and afterwards, Clare has always been someone they could talk to about any concerns. She is very skilled at being able to give advice and information without imposing her opinions, and helping you to make your own decisions as a parent. They are sure this is not as easy as she makes it look!

Well done to everyone who was nominated this month!