Wakefield memory services recognised as providing excellent service
NHS memory services in Wakefield have received recognition from the Royal College of Psychiatrists that they are continuing to provide excellent services to local people.
The Wakefield memory service is run by the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. It offers a specialist service for local people with dementia, their families and carers by enabling improved access to assessment, diagnosis, treatment and support. At the same time the team works hard to raise awareness of dementia and reduce the stigma associated with illness and its consequences among the community.
The service has been accredited as excellent by the Memory Services National Accreditation Programme (MSNAP), which is a quality improvement programme developed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The programme recognises good practice, encourages the sharing of learning and innovations across services and highlights that services are meeting national guidelines and standards including those established by NICE and the Care Quality Commission.
The memory service was accredited with excellence in 2011 and the re-accreditation involved assessors from MSNAP visiting the team, reviewing feedback from service users and carers who had used the service in the previous six months, interviewing staff and reviewing quality of records.
Based on the results of the visit, self– and peer-reviews, the memory service was recommended for accreditation with excellence, the highest level achievable by the MSNAP Accreditation Advisory Committee (AAC).
Richard Clibbens, nurse consultant in the service who co-ordinated the work for the accreditation, said, “Being accredited as excellent by the Royal College of Psychiatrists is a fantastic achievement and we are really pleased that the hard work and high quality service that our teams provide to local people experiencing memory problems or who have a diagnosis of dementia has been recognised. Accreditation is a robust process that helps services to assess the care they are providing, ensure that that they are meeting national and local quality guidelines and gives them the opportunity to learn from feedback given by services users and carers.
“The process created a really positive atmosphere amongst our staff, encouraging them to continually strive to ensure they are upholding the standards of excellence and feel proud that the work they are already doing has been recognised.”
