Award-winning services for local people

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Staff from four local health organisations have swept the board at the West Yorkshire Modernisation Awards 2006, taking home more than half of the awards.

During a glittering ceremony at Elland Road, Eastern Wakefield Primary Care Trust (PCT), Wakefield West PCT, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust and South West Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust (SWYMHT) all received awards, which recognise and reward the success of NHS and social care staff across West Yorkshire in improving services for local people.

Three joint projects involving staff from across the district were winners in their categories.

The Rapid Access Service won the Service Modernisation category. The service provides a single point of contact for referrals to the older people’s mental health service and brings together teams from SWYMHT, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, Social Care and Health, Eastern Wakefield and Wakefield West PCTs.

A joint project from the Wakefield PCTs, Wakefield Social Services, the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and SWYMHT was awarded the Improving Assessment and Diagnosis award for the Falls Risk Assessment tool and guidelines. The screening tool helps to identify patients’ individual health or social needs in their own homes and makes significant changes to the way risks are identified, diagnoses made and appropriate care given.

The Older People’s Partnership Project took home the Spreading of Good Practice award, for their dementia care mapping project. The project, which includes staff from South West Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, North Kirklees PCT and Kirklees Social Services looks at how elderly people with dementia and other mental health problems are affected by their treatment on medical wards when they go to hospital.

Two other local projects were winners in their categories. The team behind the development of Eastern Wakefield PCT’s ‘Risky Business’ project were the delighted recipients of the Non-clinical Improvement Award. The project has developed a system to identify, assess and manage risks in primary care and included an energetic publicity programme to roll out the system across the PCT.

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust also scooped the Smarter Follow-ups award for the nurse-led telephone follow-up service for stable prostate cancer patients. Headed up by Marie Wilde, the Macmillan Uro-oncology nurse specialist, the service works with patients to improve their experience by addressing problems such as overcrowded clinics and long waiting times.

Local health professionals were also commended as runners up at the ceremony.

The Wakefield Memory Service was highly commended in the Improving Assessment and Diagnosis category. The service provides assessment, diagnosis, treatment and support for people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease with anti-dementia drugs.

The User Involvement Framework for Cancer Services was also highly commended in the Involving Patients, Users and their Carers to Improve Services category. The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust developed the Cont’d

framework in partnership with Eastern Wakefield, Wakefield West and North Kirklees PCTs, together with the Yorkshire Cancer Network Service Improvement Team.

The sparkling Oscars-style ceremony was hosted by Calendar News’s Duncan Wood at Leeds United Football Club on Friday 24th March. The winners, who were chosen by a panel of patients, service users and staff, received £1,000 to reinvest into their projects.

Award-winning services for local people

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