Staff shortlisted at 3 national awards

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A group of staff from the Trust are celebrating after they were shortlisted as finalists at three national award ceremonies in the last 12 months, for their work in producing the multimedia toolkit, ‘Portrait of a Life’.

The staff, who work in the Trust’s older people’s services, are all part of the team that produced the innovative toolkit, which has gained international recognition for its role in improving the lives of people with dementia and promoting wellbeing for people with other needs.

The multimedia toolkit was created with the aim of improving the quality of life of people living with dementia in care homes. Since its launch in 2009, the toolkit has been developed to help create life stories for people, particularly those living with dementia, in a wide range of community and care settings as a way of piecing together their past and promoting positive care planning for the future.

The toolkit contains materials that will help individuals to understand the importance of working with people living with conditions such as dementia and their families, to build ‘life stories’ as well as practical examples and guidance on how to do this.

The hard work of the ‘Portrait of a Life’ team has been recognised at three award ceremonies, with the team being shortlisted as finalists in all three categories.

The team were nominated for the team of the year award at the International Dementia Excellence Awards 2010, in the ‘Innovation’ category at the Nursing Times Awards 2010 and in the ‘Innovation with patient involvement’ category at this year’s Nursing Standards Awards.

In recognition of their nomination at this year’s Nursing Standard Awards, the team have also been invited to a reception at 10 Downing Street in June, hosted by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health.

Steven Michael, chief executive at the Trust said, “It’s always great when the hard work of staff at the Trust is recognised and these awards show how invaluable the work that our staff do is to local people. The work by the ‘Portrait of a Life’ team is an excellent example of how our staff can make a real difference to someone’s life.”

Suzanne Wightman, senior manager in practice development for the Trust, who leads the project, added “It’s fantastic that the team have been nominated for these awards. Life story work is already making a massive difference to individuals with dementia, their families and staff caring for them. We are delighted they have been recognised for this multimedia toolkit which has the potential to help so many people.”

Find out more about the Portrait of a Life toolkit.

Staff shortlisted at 3 national awards

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