Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre collects prestigious national award

COLCHESTER, U.K. - Oct. 31, 2014 - PRLog -- Catherine Farr, operations and clinical performance manager and Jenny Apted, ward manager, led the falls project at the centre and collected the Nursing Practice Award at the Laing & Buisson Independent Healthcare Awards (https://www.laingbuisson.co.uk/Events/IndependentHealthcareAwards/IHA2014Winners.aspx) earlier this month.

The centre has shown a 50 per cent reduction in the number of inpatient falls year-on-year for the last three years. So successful has its programme been that it is hosting a special Falls Week at the centre from 20 – 24 October to show visitors the best ways to stay fall-free.

The award judges congratulated the team on an “excellent initiative that has demonstrated very positive outcomes which have been achieved by a truly multi-professional team approach.” They also commented that “patient involvement was paramount to the process of this initiative which also resulted in cost savings.”

The ceremony was attended by team members including Margaret Lawrence (physiotherapy assistant), Lawrence Carmel (physiotherapist), Juliet Webber (lead nurse), Julie Wynburne (HCA), Julie Bryant (HCA), Liz Jones (head of nursing and clinical services), Attila Kovacs (orthopaedic consultant), Glynis Johns-Turner (outpatients manager) and Cath Finn (Secondary Care medical director).

Catherine Farr said: “Jenny and I are very proud to accept this award on behalf of the team, which has been the culmination of three years work. Whilst we led the team, we would not have been able to achieve such fantastic results on our own.

“When a patient falls, it can have a catastrophic effect on their life and anything that we can do to reduce this risk, whilst they are an inpatient with us and also once they are back at home, is a major achievement. This will continue to be an ongoing challenge.”

Chester Barnes, hospital director at Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre, said: “This award reflects an enormous amount of commitment, energy and effort put in by the team, both on the ward, and across a range of clinical disciplines, to achieving improvements in outcomes for our patients.”