Kirklees older people’s services accredited with excellence
Older people’s mental health services in Kirklees provided by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust have celebrated being named a centre of excellence at a special event at the Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield.
The event was held to recognise the services’ achievement of gaining stage 1 accreditation as a practice development unit and hosted speakers from the Trust and the University of Huddersfield.
Practice development unit accreditation is awarded by the Centre for the Development of Healthcare Policy and Practice (CDHPP) and is designed to encourage healthcare providers to push boundaries and develop innovative ideas in order to deliver the best possible care for local people.
The Trust’s chief executive Steven Michael sent congratulations to the 11 teams that were presented with plaques and certificates, and the Trust’s director of nursing, innovation and compliance, Noreen Young, attended the event along with other staff, service users and carers from the older people’s services.
Assistant director of older people’s services Sue Barton said: “We are delighted to have been awarded initial accreditation and the event was an opportunity to recognise staff for their fantastic achievement. Becoming a practice development unit is an exciting journey of discovery and development, and one that transforms and energises clinical teams. It raises standards and ensures we are delivering only the very best for local people using our services and their carers.”
The accreditation is external recognition that a unit is providing patient focused care and actively improving patients’ experiences of services. At the heart of this is making sure that individuals understand their rights; ensuring everyone is treated with dignity and respect; providing individualised care based on needs and choices and making sure people who use services feel involved and empowered.
A summary report commended the Trust’s older people’s services for working innovatively, putting service users at the centre and enabling service users to have a say over how services are run.
Stage 1 accreditation provides initial recognition that the service is performing to exceptionally high standards, but the Trust’s older people’s services are now looking to consolidate and build on their good practice in order to achieve full, stage 2 accreditation in 2010.
Suzanne Wightman, senior manager for practice development in Kirklees Older Peoples Services said: "This is a significant achievement for our teams and recognises the difference that we are making to improving outcomes for older people with mental health needs in Kirklees".